Against All Odds
by mayarox95
Summary: Now that the war is over Hermione thinks that her life will finally be able to get back to normal. But what happens when her world is turned upside down after she finds out that she's adopted and the twin sister of Blaise Zabini? Now she must face the pureblood world, jealous girls, harassing boys, and worst of all, her past.
1. The Surprise

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter. The characters and the plot before this story belongs to J. K. Rowling

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Hermione woke up that morning feeling extremely content with the morning. The sun shone in through the window signalling her to get out of bed. As she made her way around her room to get ready for the day ahead of her, she allowed her mind to wander.

The war had ended the past June and all was well again. She had spent a week after the war ended tracking down her parents at the end of the war with the help of Ron and Harry. They had been living peacefully as the Wilkins without any knowledge of their true identities. She had restored their memories without much difficulty but they hadn't been happy with her. She had to sit them down and explain in details what exactly had been happening in the world at the time. They understood where she was coming from but they had wished she had approached them first and told them. They had been living together since then and had been getting along without any problems.

As she got out of the shower she looked in the mirror she saw a reflection that she was not expecting. There in the mirror was a girl who was almost identical to herself but at the same time slightly different. Her skin was tanner than her typical pale self and her hair had become bouncy curls. But other than that, she still looked the same. Hermione knew that some girls hit puberty late but this was simply ridiculous. No one changed this much over night.

She went back to her bedside table to fetch her wand. Once she returned to the bathroom she fully checked the mirror for any magic that may have been cast upon it. Even though the war was over there were still a few death eaters on the loose and Hermione didn't want to take any chances. She used several different spells but nothing came up each time. It seemed that the girl in the mirror was truly her.

As she went downstairs she saw her mother cooking bacon and adding it to the side of the huge pile of pancakes on the table. It meant one thing; something bad had happened. In the Granger house it was typical for the family to have a huge breakfast on days where something sad had happened.

The first time had been when she was five. Her grandfather had died and parents were unsure how to tell her. So they had cooked all her favourite breakfast items all at once. Ever since then it had become a habit for their family whenever there was something they needed to tell her.

"Mum what happened?" Hermione said urgently. "Did someone die?"

Her mother turned around at the sound of her voice. She saw the tears running down her mum's face and immediately felt her chest tighten. Her mind raced at the thought of all the possible things that could have happened. Then she noticed her father wasn't in the room. "Oh please no," she though. "Please not him.

"Mum, where's Dad?" she asked scared. "Did something happen to him?"

Her mother gave her a sad smile. "Sweetie your father is fine. There was just something that he needed to take care of this morning." She then saw her mother stare at her appearance and she remembered why she had come down so quickly.

"Mum why do I look like this?" she whispered. "What aren't you telling me?"

Her mother gave her a tight hug. "We'll talk about all of this once your father returns, I promise."

Hermione sat down at the table, frustrated at the secrecy. They had promised to tell each other everything after their memories were restored. But here they were not telling her and letting her think of all the very worst possible scenarios of what could have happened. Her mother tried to get her to eat in the meantime but she couldn't. Not when she knew that something had happened.

Just then she heard a pop in the living room. Hermione rushed there expecting to see Ron, Ginny or Harry; after all they were the main people who visited her. But nothing could have prepared her for who she saw.

There was her father. But he was not who she was surprised to see. It was the couple with him. Hermione recognised them as the Zabini family. But even that was not what shocked her. It was the fact that Cecilia Zabini looked similar to the girl Hermione saw in the mirror that morning.

"Does someone want to explain to me what is happening?" Hermione said loudly, her voice quivering.

As they sat down at the table Hermione looked at her parents. "Tell me now. No more avoiding it. What is happening?" she demanded.

Her parents looked nervous. "Hermione there was something we had been meaning to tell you for some time now, but we were never sure how to do so. Hermione, we love you so much and we want you to remember that okay?" Her mother said. Hermione looked worriedly at them.

"Hermione about seventeen years ago we had been trying to conceive for a child. But sweetie, we realised that I couldn't have children. But the two of us didn't want to give up so we began to explore other options."

Hermione closed her eyes, knowing where this was heading. And she didn't like it one bit.

"Sweetie, you're adopted," her father told her gently.

And just like that her entire world turned around. Everything she knew about herself and her life had been a lie. She was left feeling unsure of who she was and what her life meant. She felt her walls of knowledge crumble down around her. Hermione Granger was not a person who didn't know things. It was one of the things she prided herself on. So how hadn't she known this. But then again, she was no longer Hermione Granger now was she?

"Why did you keep this from me?" she asked, her voice shaking. "We promised to tell each other everything. You guys were so angry with me for lying to you and doing what I thought was best, but you lied to me! I had a right to know. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I wanted to know why I was so different? Did you think that I wouldn't notice that I barely look like either of you? I noticed but I tried to make excuses for it," she said, now near tears.

Her mother embraced her softly and Hermione felt more unsure of herself than she had in a long time. She pulled away from her mum as she turned to face the people in front of her.

"I suppose you are my parents?" Hermione sniffled as she asked the couple in front of her.

Mrs. Zabini gave her a smile. "Yes Hermione, we are," she said as she reached out for her hand. Hermione wanted to pull away out of both anger and pain. So many thoughts were running through her mind at the moment.

"Why?" she asked them finally. "Why did you give me up? Why are you coming to find me now? Why did you keep Blaise but not me?" she asked them trying not to allow her voice to break. It was so overwhelming for her and she wasn't sure how to react to the news.

Her biological parents must have heard the hurt in her voice for they looked at her sadly. "Hermione we always wanted you. If it were up to us we would have kept both you and Blaise."

"So why didn't you?" she asked them.

"Voldemort was watching my pregnancy very closely," Mrs. Zabini explained. "He was trying to ensure he would have a newer generation of Death Eater's to join his cause. We approached Dumbledore secretly about it. We never wanted anything to do with their cause but because of our blood we were some of the first he approached. Dumbldore told us he would try and hide both of you safely away. But some complications arose. Lucius was watching over us closely and before we could fake Blaise's death he took him straight to the Dark Lord. But he didn't know about you Hermione. He didn't know that I was also pregnant with you, so we made sure the plan could still go on for you."

Hermione saw the tears roll down her biological mother's face and new that this was just as hard for her as it was for Hermione.

"Dumbledore gave you to the Granger's, a family he knew was anxious to try for a child for themselves. He put a powerful spell on you which would alter your appearance slightly so no one would know you were related to us. It also changed pieces of information about you that could give you away, such as your birthday. It would have been too suspicious for you to have yours on the same day as Blaise," Antonio, her biological father, said.

"Since the war ended we knew it was finally safe to find you. We went to Dumbledore and he told us that the spell would wear off on you 17th birthday. He also led us to your parents a week ago. We have been in contact with them since then and decided it would be best to tell you today."

She allowed herself to take in all the information that they had given her. Hermione had seen them a couple of times over the years but never had thought anything of them. They were just another pureblood family. She knew that they were not necessarily evil just because they were purebloods. While their son Blaise had been in Slytherin he had not once called her a mudblood as the rest of his house had. But she still had not given him a second thought. It seemed strange to her that someone who was so unknown to her was now her twin brother.

"Am I supposed to live with you?" she asked them hesitantly.

They gave her a smile. "Hermione while we would love to know you, we understand if you want to continue living here. These people have been here for you during a time when we couldn't. We just wanted to tell you the truth. But what you chose to do is completely up to you," Mr. Zabini said.

She looked at the people who had raised her for their opinions. Both her parents gave her a smile. "Sweetheart, we will accept whatever it is you choose. But do not stay here for us alone. You have always been curious about new things, so take this opportunity to learn about your world and your parents," her mother reassured.

She looked over at the people who had given her up for her safety. "I want to come with you and live with you guys. But I also want to be able to visit them whenever I want to," she said with a gesture to her adoptive parents.

Her biological parent's smiles could not have been brighter. "We would never ask for you to give them up. But we are so happy that you want to come with us."

"Does Blaise know about me?" she asked them. She was a bit nervous about what her brother had thought about her. Ginny had often described him as cold and a person who would choose to stay by himself.

"We told him about you as soon as the war ended. He was just as angry as you were. He knows who you are but he doesn't know who you were at Hogwarts," Cecilia said to her. "Since he found out he had been pestering us to go find you."

Hermione smiled at the thought. She had a brother who wanted her. While both Harry and Ron had always been brothers to her, it wasn't the same.

"You said that the spell changed my birthday. Does that mean that today is my birthday since the spell wore off today?" She asked curiously.

"Yes it is Hermione. And I can probably guess your next question. Yes your name is Hermione, we named you. Your full name is Hermione Annabella Zabini," Cecilia told her.

Hermione looked at her stunned. "How did you know that it was my next question?"

"Because I would have asked the same thing," she said with a smile.

Hermione helped clear up the dishes before going upstairs to pack up her things. Her entire life had been in this room. She was always Hermione Granger, the muggleborn who was the brightest witch of her age. But now it had all changed. She was a pureblood. Something she never thought was possible. The status change hadn't meant anything to her, but it meant that she had a family history in the wizarding world. She knew that she would always cherish the muggle part of her life, but now she could have both aspects.

She went downstairs with all her stuff firmly packed into a suitcase magically. She had also shrunken it so it fit in her palm. Her biological parents escorted her to the fireplace. She took a deep breath before dropping the powder and being engulfed in the green flames. "Zabini Manor."

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**A/N:** A new story! Let me know what you guys think about it.


	2. Meeting the Family

**Chapter 2**

Blaise paced back and forth in anticipation. If all went well today then he would finally have his sister back. He was unsure of what she would be like or if they would get along. What if they didn't get along? What if his sister was someone who he had stood by and watched get bullied by some of the other Slytherins? He had often found that sometime he felt incomplete at school but thought it was simply because he didn't get along with most of his house. It made sense to him now, but he still felt the pure anticipation cause him to feel a tad bit nauseas.

Since the day he had started at Hogwarts it had been that way. The rest of them all cared about blood purity and were very open in their beliefs. But Blaise was different from them. It had never mattered that much to him as it had others. It was for that reason that he was never as close to the rest of his house. But through the years he had grown closer to Draco Malfoy.

He sat down as Draco gave him a pointed look. He had come over for moral support, and because he couldn't bear to be at his house. But Blaise was still glad for his company. He ran his tan hands through his black hair as he felt his whole body quiver with eagerness. The Italian had been known for being calm in most situations, but for some reason he was anything but. It got to the point where he couldn't sit still. So once again he got up and began pacing around the room as he had done earlier.

"Mate calm down. Your sister will come back here soon," Draco said calmly. In all honesty he was almost as anxious as Blaise. Since the war had ended he had been trying to make a name for himself that was separate than that of his father.

It was part of the reason why he had been looking forward to returning to Hogwarts. But the real reason he was nervous was for his friend. He knew that Blaise and his family had suffered a lot through the war, especially with having to give up their daughter for her safety. After all, it had been the fault of his father that Blaise was not given up as well. But as selfish as it sounded, he was happy that his friend had not been, for then Draco never would have met him. The Zabinis had always served as a second family to him and they deserved to be happy.

"Draco what if she hates me? I've never had a sister before, how does one act around their sister? What if she wants nothing to do with our family, or what if she decides that she doesn't want to know me?" Blaise asked nervously.

Draco simply rolled his eyes at this. "Blaise, you're a Zabini, where's your valour? Your sister would have to be a nutcase to not want you in her life. And I've seen you around other girls whom you consider to be a sister; trust me, you'll be fine. And she is probably eager to meet your family, after all, you are the Zabinis. If she is anything like you, then she will want to learn everything about you."

Blaise gave him a tiny smile before stopping his pacing. He sat down and attempted to occupy himself with his hands.

At that point something had caught Draco's eye. On the table was that morning's Daily Prophet. He picked it up and began reading.

_**Spotted: Lonely Girl at Ministry Party**_

_By Rita Skeeter_

_Last night the Golden Trio, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley attended the Ministry party for the new Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shaklebolt. While Potter was accompanied by Miss. Ginvera Weasley and Ron by Lavendar Brown, Miss. Granger found herself flying solo for the night. The Golden Girl has previously associated by wizards such as Viktor Krum, Harry Potter, and recently Ron Weasley, although at the party she found herself alone throughout the night. Sources say that Hermione has yet to find a wizard able to keep up with her academic talents._

"_Hermione has always been extremely picky when it comes to guys. She feels that she has failed to meet any that outshine the rest of the male population," a source close to the witch says._

_Miss. Granger has graced the world as recently being voted as the brightest young witch of her age; as shown through her outstanding efforts through the war. The young beauty has spent most of the summer helping repair the beloved Hogwarts. So who will this young witch be seen with next? If past experiences say anything, it is safe to say that her next catch will be the biggest yet. (For more on Miss. Granger's efforts during the war turn to pg 11…)_

Draco rolled his eyes at the article. The "Golden Trio" had been on the front page of the Prophet every day since the war ended. Whether the articles were actually informative or not, there was always some article on them each day.

Not that he minded. Personally, he sort of liked seeing how Granger was doing since war had ended. There was just something about her that made him want to make sure she was okay. He knew it was probably since he felt so guilty about his aunt torturing her, as he felt partly responsible for it.

It had eaten him up inside every single day since it had happened. Before that point he had been on the fence about being a Death Eater. But seeing Hermione there was what changed his mind completely. He wasn't sure why it took her getting tortured to change his mind, but something about her there made him snap. She looked so pure and innocent. She was everything the Light had symbolised, and because of it he knew he could fight against them.

The two of them heard the floo go off. Blaise dumped down his book and stood up nervously. He then calmly walked over to the room where the fireplace was without looking to see if Draco had been following them.

As Blaise walked through the door he found himself staring in the face at a witch with curly brunette hair and tan skin. The girl looked identical to him, and he had a feeling inside that it was his sister. It was hard to explain, but he had a feeling inside of him like he was finally complete.

But that wasn't the only thing he knew. No matter how much she looked like him, he knew that this girl was none other than Hermione Granger.

* * *

As Hermione flooed to the manor, she had no idea what she should expect. She stared at the grand foyer in front of her. While she knew that the room merely served the purpose to greet guests, it was still one of the most extravagant rooms she had seen in her life.

The room had an arched ceiling filled with beautiful designs of what she presumed to be the family's history. "Your family," she corrected herself mentally. Around the room were many decorative magical items, such as goblets and tiaras. "Her family must have had a lot of prominent people," she thought in awe.

As she stepped out of the fireplace, she was immediately tackled into a hug but a brunette boy. Shocked as she was, she returned the hug whole heartedly. She didn't need to see his face to know that the boy was Blaise. She just knew inside.

But saying she wasn't shocked wouldn't be true. The boy she knew in school had never been as emotional about his feelings. So seeing him hug her with so much emotion filled her with happiness.

As he pulled away, he gave her a smile. "Hi Hermione," he said.

She looked at him shocked. "You recognise me?" she asked curiously. She knew that she looked different than she had from before the spell had worn off.

He scoffed. "I'd recognise you anywhere," he said with a laugh. "I've missed you Hermione. While I might have just come into the knowledge that I have a sister, it feels as if I've known my entire life. Hermione, welcome home."

She smiled at him. "I was a bit nervous about coming here," she said honestly.

He looked taken aback when she told him that. "Why?" he asked her.

"I was afraid that you might not like me," she said sheepishly. "And that you might not want a sister."

He laughed when he heard this. When she looked at him curiously, he explained. "I was afraid of the exact same thing," he told her with a smile.

Seeing her still standing near the fireplace, he grabbed her hand and led her to the sitting room.

Upon her entry she found herself staring into the grey eyes of Draco Malfoy. Stunned by his presence, she acted instinctively. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at him. "What are you doing here Malfoy?" She asked him coldly. She knew he had been ruled innocent after the war along with his mother. But she didn't buy it. He had watched her get tortured at the hand of his aunt without even flinching.

"Hermione, it's okay," Blaise said as he saw the scene in front of him.

Draco simply looked at her sadly. It was an emotion she had never seen worn on his face, and she was unsure how to react to it.

But she did not waver. She kept her wand on him without looking away. The look on his face made her want to drop her arm, but the shear memory made her unable to do so.

Blaise must have known this, for he slowly lowered her arm. "Hermione, Draco is here as my guest. He has changed since the war and is not the same person he was back then," he told her soothingly.

She continued to glare at him as he got up from the place that he was sitting. "Hermione I was meaning to talk to you since that day, but it never seemed right. I want to apologise to you for that, but I know that it is a lot for me to ask for you to forgive me. But since I'm going to be here all summer with you, I was hoping that we could try and get along," he said sincerely.

She eyed him suspiciously, trying to find the slightest hint that he might not have been truthful with his words. But she soon figured out that he was completely honest. She hesitated before replying. "I still don't trust you Malfoy, but I'm willing to get along with you because we need to both stay here." She wanted to protest and to tell him that she can never forgive him. But she just moved into the manor and was relunctant to create a scene.

He smiled at her widely. "Thank you Hermione," he told her.

"Since when do you call me Hermione?" she asked him curiously. It was odd thing to hear coming from him.

He smirked at her. "Well I can't exactly call you Granger anymore can I?"

She hadn't thought about that. She was still unsure about whether she would be changing her surname to Zabini. But the pure love she had received from her biological family was one that she couldn't just ignore. While the Grangers raised her and made her the person that she is today, she felt a connection to the Zabinis that she couldn't explain. She had barely known them for more than a few hours, but she felt as if she had known them her entire life.

She huffed and turned her attention back to her brother. "Brother," she thought. "That word feels so strange to use." She knew that it would take her sometime getting used to this new family, but she was excited to get to know them and be a part of it. This summer was going to be one of the most exciting ones of her life and she didn't even know it.


	3. Settling In and Bad Dreams

**Chapter 3**

"I'll show you to your room," Blaise said that evening.

Hermione had spent most of the morning talking to her parents, who seemed extremely pleased that their two children were getting along quite well. She had also learned quite a bit about her parents. For example while her father was a Slytherin, her mother was a Gryffindor in school. It had explained why she was placed in that house, biologically wise. She found that she also had a great deal in common with her family, such as favourite books and pass times.

Her parents had decided to leave Draco, Blaise, and Hermione after lunch, to get to know each other better.

It had been a long day. They had gone out to the back lawn of her house. Once again, she was surprised by the size of yet another feature in her new home. The yard extended on for a good mile or so, filled with their own private lake and forest. The yard was one of the most beautiful areas of the house she had seen. There was a garden in one area which she presumed to belong to her mother. As she walked over there, Blaise and Draco had followed her. They had chosen to sit in a large white gazebo in the middle of the garden, giving her a view of the entire yard.

She was still in shock at the level of comfort her new home had. Her family was obviously well off, but they still seemed fairly modest about their wealth. Her parents had also spent the day trying to make sure that she was comfortable in her new home.

While the three of them had sat and chatted, Hermione found herself getting to know Draco better. And while he didn't necessarily come out and say some things, by the tone that he and Blaise talked about it, she was able to learn a lot about his life growing up. She still didn't know the exact extent that it had been to, but she quickly found that Lucius was no father of the year. But she could have guessed that simply from her previous encounters with him.

She still didn't trust him. She wanted to be able to, but every fibre in her body advised against it. He was Draco Malfoy, the person who called her a mudblood for all those years. He made her hate the fact that she was a muggle-born, even though she now knew she wasn't. He had also spent years taunting and tormenting her friends. While he may have changed at the end of the war, there is a certain extent to which a person can change.

She wanted to believe in the good in all of people. She wanted to be able to believe that everyone was capable of change. But was Draco one of those people?

She had also learned a lot about her brother as well. From what she could tell, he cared about her a lot. It filled her up with happiness to have him be there for her. She was used to the brotherly love, but non-biological love can only be extended so far.

She had barely noticed the time pass, but as her parents came out with food, she realised that it was late and time for their next meal.

"We can go inside if it is too much trouble to eat out here," Hermione told them. She was afraid that she would be burdening them too much on her first day here.

Cecilia smiled at her, "Not at all dear, the house elves will bring it out here. Do not worry about a thing," she told her daughter.

Hermione looked horrified at the prospect of being waited upon by elves. She was about to launch into her entire campaign about S.P.E.W. before her mother stopped her.

"Sweetie, we know all about your dislike for creature cruelty. You got that from myself. We pay these elves and treat them properly, you do not need to worry about that," Her mother reassured.

Hermione smiled at her mother before sitting down with Draco and her family to eat.

She found that she got along quite well with her family, but was still unable to call them mum or dad yet. It just didn't seem right, so she avoided addressing them when speaking. Her parents didn't seem to mind though. If they noticed they chose simply not to say anything about it.

As the dishes were cleared away, Hermione stifled a yawn. It had been a long day, and she longed to just go to sleep. Antonio seemed to notice this.

"Blaise, why don't you go show Hermione her room?" he suggested.

Blaise stood up without a complaint. He then, followed by Draco, led Hermione through the house.

He opened a door and allowed her entry into the room before following himself. She gasped as she looked around the room. It was filled completely with books, all of which were her favourites. There were also many little trinkets that she had wished she could have over the years as she grew up, but never asked for.

"It's magically designed to be customised to whatever the inhabitant of the room wants," Blaise explained to her.

"Why am I not surprised that it is filled with books?" Draco asked with a smirk.

Hermione merely rolled her eyes at him as Blaise gave her a smile.

"It fits you so well," He stated. He then noticed the growing expression of exhaustion upon Hermione's face. "We'll leave you to it. Draco and I are sharing a room across the hall, so don't hesitate to come ask for anything you need," He told her.

She smiled at her brother and his friend. "I won't. Goodnight Blaise, Draco," she said, addressing them separately.

Blaise pulled her into a tight hug, "It feels so good to have you back." He then released her. "Good night Hermione."

Draco gave her a nod. "Night," he said simply, before turning around and sauntering out of the room.

She then got changed into a pair of shorts with teddy bears and her favourite sleep shirt. As she lay down on the bed, she was quickly succumbed by sleep.

* * *

_Hemione was back in the Malfoy Manor. She stared up scared at the lady in front of her. _

"_Where did you get the sword?" Bellatrix hissed at the girl on the ground._

_Hermione lay there, withered from the Cruciatus Curse. There was only so much pain she could stand. She sobbed from the pain, just wishing it would all end. "It's a fake," she cried._

_But the Death Eater did not look convinced._

"_I know you went in there mudblood. What else did you take from my vault?" she screamed out. _

"_N-No-Nothing," Hermione managed to say in between cries of pain._

"_I don't believe you," Bella said coldly. _

"_Please, I swear, it's a fake," Hermione pleaded, desperate for her to believe Hermione. She needed the pain to end. Oh please let it end._

"_Crucio!" Bella screamed out again. _

_Hermione let out a massive cry of agony as she was then engulfed by the darkness that surrounded her._

* * *

"Hermione, wake up," A voice cried out to her. She felt an arm around her and immediately pulled away. As she opened her eyes she saw that Blaise had holding her. She allowed him to pull her back into a tight hug.

She felt the cold fresh tears roll down her face and knew she was still panting from the dream. It had been so vivid that she had actually though that she was there. But looking around the room she saw that she was in her room at the Zabini Manor.

She suddenly remembered the previous day's events. She felt safe in her brother's arms; safer than she had felt in a long time. Even though the war had ended she still had a feeling that Bellatrix would come after her. And that thought scared her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her softly.

Hermione knew that she could easily have said no. If she did then she would be able to put on the same façade she had shown both Harry and Ron. Both of them thought that she was fine after the incident, but she wasn't. So she easily could have done the same with Blaise.

A part of her wanted to open up to him. He probably knew that something was wrong by the sheer amount of screams Hermione probably let out. So there was no real point in denying that nothing was wrong. But she didn't want to tell him quite yet. She still hoped it would get better, so she decided against telling him at this point.

She gave him a smile, "It was just a nightmare," she reassured.

He still had a worried look upon his face. "Are you sure?" he asked unconvinced. He knew that she wasn't being honest, but she wasn't ready for him to know her fears just yet.

"Yes," she said simply while adding a smile to be polite. He gave her a knowing look, so she replied, "Blaise, don't worry. I'll tell you if there's something you need to know."

He seemed to accept this, so he let it go. As Hermione jumped out of her bed, she noticed Draco standing in the door way. He seemed worried for her. But that couldn't be right. He never cared about her in the past, so why would he suddenly be worried now?

He seemed to notice her staring at him. Well it was hard not to. He was wearing nothing but a pair of Slytherin green boxers. And by Merlin, did he look fine in them.

"Stop," she scolded herself mentally. "He's Draco Malfoy. He's anything but attractive."

He shot her a smirk at her expression. Then he looked her up and down, noticing her attire. His smirk then grew wider. "Nice pyjamas Granger," he teased.

Hermione grabbed her robe from her chair and tied it over her before he could say anything else. She felt extremely uncomfortable at the thought of him seeing her in her sleep clothes. She let out a huff as she saw him still smirking at her, before stomping into her private bathroom and locking it with a spell.

Blaise shot his friend a look. "You better not have been ogling my sister," he threatened. "I just got her back Draco. She's off limits."

Draco laughed. "Trust me, I don't see her that way," Draco said, lying. He knew how much his sister meant to his friend and the last thing he wanted to do was harm her.

The two of them went down to breakfast without talking about the subject.

* * *

As Hermione finished getting dressed, she felt that she needed to talk to her best friend. While she loved Ron and Harry, they were both blokes and didn't always understand her sometimes. So she had also befriended Ginny. And it was Ginny that she now needed to talk to. She got out some parchment and began writing.

_Hello Ginny,_

_Hope you have been doing well since the party. I was wondering if you wanted to meet up with me in Diagon Alley to talk. Ginny, something has happened and it has completely changed my life. I want to talk to Harry and Ron about it, but you know how they can both be slightly thick headed at times and not understand something before getting angry. I was hoping I can tell you first so you can help me find a way to explain it to them. I'll explain more when I see you._

_With Love,_

_Hermione_

She tied the note to an owl that her father had given her. She had named her Agacia, a name she found in a wizard novel when she was younger. She whispered in the owl's ear "Find Ginny Weasley and deliver this to her."


	4. Telling Ginny

**Chapter 4**

"Merlin, must you two snog in the kitchen?" Ron asked as he walked into the room. Ginny and Harry pulled apart at the entrance of her brother. While Harry looked sheepish, Ginny had an annoyed look in her eye.

Harry had been spending the summer at the Burrow before they returned back to Hogwarts. While the Weasleys had also extended the offer to Hermione, she had politely declined to spend time with her family.

"It's your own fault for coming down here so early," Ginny scolded.

Since the end of the war Charlie had spent most of his time back in Romania, Fred and George had moved back into their flat above the store, and Percy had married Penelope Clearwater. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had also left the previous week to be with Bill and Fleur, who had announced that they were expecting a child. So because of that, the three of them had the house to themselves.

Ron just glared at his sister and best friend. But before he could retort back, they heard a knocking on the window. As they looked over, they were shocked by the presence of an owl that none of the three recognised.

"Do you know who's that is?" Harry asked both Ginny and Ron. Both of them shook their heads while Harry eyed the owl curiously.

As Harry retrieved the letter, he flipped it over and saw that it was addressed to his girlfriend. Silently he handed her the letter.

As Ginny opened it, she recognised the handwriting immediately. "It's from Hermione," she said softly. As she read the contents of the letter, her mouth dropped. Was Hermione alright? What was so urgent that she needed to see her in person? She felt extremely worried for her best friend.

"Well?" Ron probed. "What did Hermione say?"

Ginny knew he wouldn't like her answer; neither of them would. While both of them were highly overprotective towards Hermione, they both were rather rash in their reactions to things.

"I can't tell you," she said as calmly as she could. She hoped that they had matured enough to accept that from her.

"Why not?" Ron demanded. "Hermione has barely said much to us all summer and the first owl she sends, she tells you not to tell us?"

Harry looked a little annoyed as well, but unlike her brother, he was more trusting of Hermione's instinct. "Is she at least alright?" Harry asked her.

"I'm not sure," Ginny said truthfully. "She said she wants to talk to me about something, but not to tell you guys right away. It's probably some girl stuff."

While Harry seemed to accept that, Ron did not. "I'm coming with you," he said firmly.

Ginny looked annoyed by this. "What part of she doesn't want you to know yet, do you not understand?"

"Ron let it go mate. Hermione will tell us when she's ready," Harry told his friend calmly. Ron looked reluctant to do so, but ended up leaving it.

Ginny penned a quick reply telling her that they could meet around 3 at the Leaky Caldron.

* * *

Hermione sat at the table. The house elves had made an extravagant breakfast for her; one more extravagant than those meals served at Hogwarts. The plate in front of her was filled with pancakes, bacon, eggs, potatoes, and some strawberries.

"Merlin Granger, how much can you eat?" Draco exclaimed. As she glared at him, she noticed his plate had even more food than her own. That hypocrite.

Blaise simply rolled his eyes. "Draco, she's a Zabini, remember?" he asked with a smirk.

Hermione simply smiled sweetly at Draco. "It's not my fault that some of us can afford to eat without it adding weight to our bodies," she smirked like her brother, while making a pointed look at his plate, then at his body.

Draco gawked at her. "Did you just call me fat?" he said with a glare. As she and Blaise burst out laughing, he exclaimed, "I am NOT fat Hermione. In fact, I have a body that guy dream of and girls drool over."

Hermione scoffed at this. "I saw you this morning; I know how your body looks. Trust me when I say that it's nothing special. I've seen better."

Draco looked astounded by this. Hermione was not falling for his usual charms like every other witch did. He didn't like her that way at all, but everyone fell for his charms! It felt rather degrading for his body to be put down as such, when no other witch had ever degraded it so harshly.

"And I suppose you think Potter and Weasley are better?" he asked with a glare.

"I don't think of them that way," she said truthfully.

Blaise cut in. "You're not dating either of them right? I'd hate to have to beat them up," he said with his usual protectiveness. Hermione loved how protective he was of her when it came to guys.

"I've never dated Harry, and Ron, well, that's complicated," Hermione said. She wasn't sure why they were discussing this. It was something she didn't talk to most people about, but her brother wasn't most people. Hermione even found that she no longer hated Draco, but was merely annoyed with their usual banter. But that didn't mean she could forget the events that occurred at the Malfoy Manor.

"How is it complicated?" Blaise probed.

"Well, we kissed in the Chamber of Secrets during the war, but both of us decided it was in the heat of the moment. Neither of us thinks of each other that way. We thought we were meant to be because everyone expected us to get together, but we just weren't right for each other," she answered.

Blaise seemed to accept this. "Are you going to tell them about all of this?" he asked, while gesturing generally to the house, but referring to the events that had occured.

She looked thoughtful. "Well there's no point in denying it," she told them. "But I want to ease them into it. If they don't understand fully then they will both make assumptions that are as far from the truth as possible. So I'm going to try and avoid that. I'm telling Ginny first," she said.

At that moment, an owl came to the window. As Hermione went to receive the letter from Agacia, she noticed it was from Ginny. "I'm meeting her in a couple of hours," she told the boys.

"I'm coming with you," Blaise told her. "It's still not completely safe, and I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I might as well come then too," Draco said reluctantly. "I'd rather not be left alone."

* * *

Hermione fidgeted with her hands. The three of them had arrived five minutes early and got a table for four. She would have preferred doing this on her own, but she was glad for the support. While she would not need it for Ginny, she felt safer with the boys there, even if one was Draco.

As she saw Ginny walk over after spotting her, she noticed the presence of Blaise and Draco. She stormed over to the table. "Hermione, I'm here. But before we talk, why are_ they _here?" she glowered. "And why do you look different?"

"Ginny, please sit down first. I want you to understand everything," Hermione said. "Blaise, Draco, I know you wanted to accompany me, but could you give me some privacy for a little while?" she asked them.

They reluctantly got up from the table and walked over to the bar. "Ginny, I want to explain this from the beginning. But promise me you'll wait until I am done to make opinions," Hermione told her friend.

Ginny looked weary, but she accepted.

"Ginny, you know how I wanted to spend the summer with my parents while trying to mend our relationship after the war ended?" she asked. Ginny nodded, remembering her reasons for not joining them at the Burrow.

"Well my parents told me that I was adopted Ginny. They told me that they couldn't have kids so they adopted me."

Ginny looked shocked at this. "So who are your real parents?" she asked her friend.

"The Zabinis," Hermione told her. At that, she launched into the story about how she was separated from her brother in order to protect her. She told Ginny how a spell was cast upon her changing her appearance and her birthday. She told her about how she was reunited with her brother and how she felt like a part of her had been locked away and now it has been unlocked. And through all of this, Ginny sat there listening to her friend talk about her life changing so drastically.

"Merlin Hermione," Ginny gasped. "That's a lot for you to have to have gone through."

Hermione smiled at her friend. She was relieved that Ginny hadn't been alienated off by her news. She had been partially afraid that Ginny wouldn't accept her, even though she knew that the redhead was more understanding than her brother.

"But why is Malfoy here?" Ginny asked.

"He's staying at the house to avoid his manor," Hermione told her. "He's changed though Ginny. He's not the same git he was back in school, but he's still annoying."

Ginny spoke in a hushed tone, "So have you been able to stop the nightmares about that night at the Malfoy Manor?" Ginny was the only person she ever told about them. She had helped her through the worst of them, but now thankfully the dreams weren't as bad. But she still didn't want her friend to worry about her.

"I still get them," she told her friend. "But I don't blame Draco for them. It wasn't him who tortured me or carved that word into my arm. I want to stay angry at him, and place the entire blame on him. But that wouldn't be fair to him," she confessed.

The redhead looked relieved at this. "Has he treated you okay? I know you're no longer a muggleborn and you don't have bushy hair anymore, but has he said anything hurtful?" her friend pressed.

"Ginny he hasn't even mocked me once about anything. He still makes fun of me for somethings, but it's in a way that Harry or Ron would say something."

Ginny's eyes widened at their names, remembering how temperamental they could be. "Oh Morgana, Ron and Harry aren't going to like this!" she exclaimed.

Hermione furrowed her forehead. "I don't know how to tell them Gin. What if they can't accept the fact that I'm a pureblood and that I'm a Zabini? I love my brother, and I love them. I can't choose between them, and if they ask me to, I have no idea what I'm going to do."

Ginny gave her friend a hug. "Hermione, if they ask you to choose, then they are the biggest gits that I have ever met. And I'll be there when you tell them. I won't allow them to say anything to you that could be harmful in anyway."

"Ginny, I have no idea what I would do without you," Hermione said truthfully. "Thank you so much for being understanding. I know it's hard to accept them after the war, but thank you for not jumping to conclusions before I told you anything."

"No problem 'Mione. Besides, you have a hot brother," Ginny said giggling. "Merlin, even Malfoy is pretty good looking."

"Ginny! Blaise is my brother! Besides you're with Harry!" Hermione exclaimed.

Ginny shot her a smirk. "But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate other hot guys," she said with a laugh.

Before Hermione could say anything back at her outrageous friend, the boys had chosen to come back to the table at that point.

"Is everything alright?" Blaise asked worriedly. He had been watching the exchange, hoping that his little sister's friend would accept everything that had happened to Hermione.

Hermione gave him a bright smile. "Everything is perfect." Blaise seemed to relax after that point.

"So when are you going to tell Potter and Weaselbee?" Draco asked with a smirk.

Hermione looked extremely worried at this point. "Soon, I suppose. The sooner I tell them, the better."

As they paid and walked towards the door, Ginny hugged Hermione goodbye.

"Don't worry 'Mione. I won't tell them what you told me. And when you decide to tell them, I will be here with you to help you."

Hermione smiled. "Thanks Ginny."

She gave them all a smile as she apparated away.

"Shall we?" Blaise asked his sister, while offering her his arm. Draco did the same. Hermione linked her arms between both of theirs as they apparated back home.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews, you guys are great! I was a bit worried about this story, so your reviews mean a lot. Let me know if you have any comments on the story or suggestions.


	5. Dinner With The Family

**Chapter 5**

Hermione sat down at the table. They had gone out to a fancy wizard restaurant for dinner, forcing her to dress up. She hadn't minded the fact that she needed to wear a dress, but it was choosing one that became quite the problem.

When she had raided her closet after her biological parents told her that they were going out to eat, she found that she had hundreds of clothes. Well that may be a slight exaggeration, but the amount of clothes she had was ridiculous. There was every type of dress that she could imagine. Hermione guessed that her mother had stocked up her closet after finding out that she was coming to her new home. Hermione picked up a red dress that came to her knees and paired them with a pair of heels. If only Ron could see her now, then he would be quite assured that she was indeed a girl.

It felt so weird for her to say that. She had only been here for two days, yet she already felt quite at ease. Of course she still thought about her adoptive parents, and she even kept owling them to keep in contact. While they missed her, they were happy that she was getting to know her family.

As Hermione scanned through the menu, she was rather surprised at the choices. When looking around the room, it was obvious that only those of higher society came here. And that much was also shown when looking at the prices of the food.

"Have you decided what you would like to order?" Antonio asked her.

She smiled at him, "Yes, I would like the Yorkshire Pudding," she told him.

It had been the five of them at dinner, as Draco chosen to join them. Blaise had been glad that he had, as he would be lonely either at his house or the Manor. Blaise had been reluctant to allow him to stay behind, and in the end had won their argument. He had wanted to give them privacy, but Blaise would not hear of it. He insisted that Draco was a part of the family and that he should join them.

When Hermione had asked why Blaise was reluctant to allow him to stay at his house, neither of them would explain. As far as she knew, Lucius had been locked away in Azkaban for fifty years, and Narcissa had gotten a couple years sentence. Narcissa's sentence had been a lot lighter because it had been obvious that it was never her choice to join up and had been forced into it. In addition to that, she had lied to Voldemort to keep Harry alive. So why it was the worst thing for him to go back was beyond her.

As they placed their orders, Cecilia turned to her. "So Hermione, tell me about yourself," she asked her.

"Well, I'm reasonably smart, and my friends are Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Ginny Weasley. I love to read books. I believe that all magical creatures deserve equal rights, human or not. I did my part in the war to bring it to an end," she said with a pause.

Draco snorted at the mention of her friends, and probably everything else she said.

Blaise just looked at her incredulously. "Mother, Father, when Hermione says she's reasonably smart, she means that she is the top of our year and the brightest witch of our age. And not only did she do her part in the war, but as you know she helped end it, traveling with both Harry and Ron to destroy all the Horcruxes," Blaise told them. "She's apparently quite modest as well."

Hermione blushed at this, but saw that her parents were smiling proudly at her. Whenever she had told her adoptive parents about her feats they would be proud of her, but because they were muggles they really had no idea what it meant or how hard it was. So to have her biological parents be so proud of her was a new, but good, experience.

"And you're in Gryffindor?" her mother inquired.

Hermione nodded as Blaise shook his head in disbelief while exchanging a look with Draco. Hermione hopped that she wasn't the only one in the family who had been in the house.

Her mother clapped her hands happily. "That's amazing! I was a Gryffindor at Hogwarts as well, so you can imagine my disappointment when Blaise was sorted into Slytherin. And now my daughter is in my house."

Blaise just grinned at his sister while her father responded, "I was a Slytherin, remember?" her father smirked. "And you still fell for me."

"Not by choice," her mother retorted. "You were an arrogant git for most of the time we spent there," turning to her daughter she proceeded, "He used to mock me for studying in the library all the time and for actually trying in class!"

Herimione smiled at her mother, realising the similarities between the two of them.

Antonio rolled his eyes. "You never seem to remember how I changed for you to get you to fall in love with me." Facing Hermione as well, he continued, "I stopped teasing her and even started going out of my way to do things for her, but of course that always slips her mind."

His wife just laughed. Hermione smiled at the sound of her laugh. It was one of the most beautiful, joyous sounds that she had ever heard. Everything about her mother was beautiful, from her personality to her looks.

Blaise turned to her. "Hermione, are you excited to return to Hogwarts in a couple weeks' time? I heard that Dumbledore has taken extra measures to make sure that the school is completely unified after the war."

Hermione glowed at the thought of returning to her favourite place in the world. "Of course I am! But it's NEWT year. I'm going to have to start studying on the first day back!"

Draco smirked at her thoughts on returning and Blaise and Antonio laughed while Cecilia nodded her head in agreement. "You are so much like your mother," her father said after calming down. Hermione smiled at the comparison, knowing that was a compliment to her.

"What would you like to do once you've left Hogwarts?" Cecilia asked her curiously.

Hermione took her time in answering. "I'm not quite sure actually. There's so many different ways that my career path could head, and I am still trying to figure out which one it is that I want to follow. Part of me wants to go into Law Enforcement, whereas another part wants to be an Auror," she told them. "Blaise, what do you want to do?"

Blaise had no problem in answering. "I'm going to take over the Zabini business from father after he retires," he answered contently. Hermione glanced at his face to see if there was any indication that he was agreeing out of obligation, but from what she could tell, that wasn't the case.

"What is the Zabini business?" she asked her father curiously.

"I specialize in trades around the world for broom supplies. Basically it means that I help in the designing of the brooms," he said proudly.

Hermione stared at him in shock. If Harry and Ron knew that her father was the one who created the brooms which they ogled over in Diagon Alley, then they would be beyond jealous. It was no wonder Blaise was so intent on going into the business; after all, he was on the Slytherin team. She saw Draco glance over at his friend with a look of pride.

"What about you Draco?" Hermione asked him politely. She didn't want him to think that she was ignoring him. She half expected him to say that he wanted to play Quidditch.

He looked at her, surprised at her question. "I want to be a Healer," he said quietly. His face looked so gentle at the mention, that she was almost sure that he wasn't the same person who she went to school with. That Draco Malfoy was always so sure of his actions, whereas the Draco in front of her looked a bit nervous at the suggestion he made.

It was Hermione's turn to look shocked. "Why?" she asked curiously. She had not pegged him as the Healer type, but she knew he was capable of the job.

"I want to help the people who were harmed in the war, as compensation," he said softly.

Everyone at the table looked remorseful. "Draco sweetie, no one blames you for your father. It wasn't your fault. In the end you chose to help the Light," her mother said to him as she stroked his hand.

Their food arrived at that point and they ate in silence for a couple of moments, leaving Hermione to her thoughts. This world, while still may be a part of the wizarding world, was one completely different from what she was accustomed to. Hermione was used to checking the prices on everything, making sure she never went over her limit, but here, she knew her family never had that problem. She could tell that they were far more down to earth than other families, and for that she was grateful. If she had parents like the Parkinson's who constantly rubbed it in others faces how much wealthier they were, she wasn't sure how she could cope.

Blaise broke her train of thoughts as she saw him perk up eagerly. As she glanced at him, she saw that he was looking at someone, very intently she might add. She followed his gaze and saw that he was looking in the direction of the Greengrass family; more specifically, at Daphne Greengrass, a Slytherin in her year. Knowing what her brother was smiling at, she caught her mother's eye. The two of them grinned at catching her brother. She was going to have a very interesting conversation with him later on about her. She was going to enjoy playing the annoying little sister; a role which she had learned all too well from Ginny Weasley.

Draco turned to Hermione at this point. "So how was your meeting with she-weasel? Was she able to accept everything you told her?" he asked.

Her parents' attention perked up at this.

"Yes, Ginny has always been more level headed and able to see things clearly, though I am more worried about Harry and Ron. They don't always think before they speak, especially Ron," she told him."

"Why wouldn't they accept you?" Her mother asked. "If they really are your friends then they will understand that you are still the same person. True friends accept everything about their friends."

Hermione stared down at her plate, "I hope so," she said as she sighed.

* * *

That night as she pondered thoughts, she knew it would be better to tell Ron and Harry sooner rather than later. The longer she waited the harsher they would take it. As much as she didn't like it, she knew that she would need to tell them soon. So she pulled out her quill and began to write.

_Dear Harry and Ron,_

_I am so sorry for not writing to you sooner. I know that I also haven't said anything to either of you since Kingsley's party. There was a good reason I swear. _

_This summer has been so hectic and there is so much that I need to tell the two of you. But I need you guys to promise me something. I need you to promise that nothing changes no matter what I tell you. You guys are important to me and I don't want to have to loose either of you over this._

_Lots of Love,_

_Hermione_

She gave the letter to her owl and sent her out once more. Hopefully they would react well to this. And with that she climbed into bed, hoping that everything would turn out alright.


	6. To Understand or Not To

**Chapter 6**

_**Granger's New Men**_

_By Rita Skeeter_

_Last week, it was mentioned that Miss Hermione Granger had been spotted lonely at the Kingsley party. Perhaps the words of an intelligent woman such as myself, had finally gotten to her and told her to move on, as she was seen out and about with two new men in her life. _

_Granger's two men have always been Potter and Weasley, so why is it that she has now been seen with Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy roaming around the streets of Diagon Alley. These two are deemed the most eligible bachelors in England, so how has she managed to snag both of them at once? Once again this writer was spot on when saying that her new man would be better than before. And has Hermione traded in her mop of hair and pale skin for curly locks and a tanned complexion?_

_What's even more shocking is that Draco Malfoy has had a well-known rivalry of with the Golden Trio since their Hogwarts days. So what does Potter and Weasley think of Granger's new boy toys? Stay tuned for more news about this new love triangle._

"I can't believe this woman!" Hermione fumed as she threw down the article on the table. It had been almost a week since she had told Harry and Ron that she wanted to meet up with them. They had decided that they would meet up today, as it would be easier for all of them to get together. And now with this article out in the open, Ron and Harry were bound to come to their own conclusions.

"I don't know why you bother to still read what that witch writes, it's not as if anyone listens to what she has to say anyways," Blaise commented. He grabbed a croissant from the tray in front of him and began to rub some jam on it.

"But still! She basically stated that I was in a relationship with the both of you! Blaise you're my brother, that's just disgusting!" she stated furiously. She didn't even say anything about being with Draco. That was just beyond wrong.

Draco wagged her eyebrows at her, "So you don't mind being in a relationship with me?" he teased her.

Hermione just rolled her eyes. "Draco, you and I will never happen," she said firmly, but added a smile to let him know that she was just teasing.

He held an arm to his chest and pretended to look wounded. "Hermione, you hurt my pride and break my heart. What will it take to convince you that I am madly in love with you?" he asked as he held her hand in his.

She yanked her hand out from his and began laughing. Blaise shot Draco a smirk and said, "Sorry mate, some things just aren't meant to be."

Draco let out a drastic sigh. "Alas, my one true love does not feel the same as me. How shall I survive?"

Hermione smirked as she skimmed through the rest of the paper, searching for the page of the recent arrests. Since the war had ended she had taken an interest in knowing what Death Eaters were still at large and who had been placed away.

Draco peered over her shoulder and scowled at the first name on the list; his aunt Bellatrix. After the war had ended, she somehow had managed to escape and find a way to stay hidden from sight. It was unknown to anyone where she had been, and she was on the most wanted list all across of Europe

* * *

Ginny sat both Harry and Ron down at the table. "Boys, I know I said I can't tell you anything until you meet her, but she asked be to have a talk with the two of you," Ginny told them.

Ron scowled at her while Harry sat upright and listened intently.

"I don't get why everyone is being so secretive about it, it's not like I don't already know," Ron said angrily.

Ginny raise her eyebrows at this. "Do enlighten me Ron, what exactly is it that you know?"

Ron gestured to that morning's Daily Prophet. "Hermione is obviously jealous that I and Lavender are back together so she's trying to make a statement by dating both Slytherins at once, hoping that I will go back to her. That's why she can't tell us yet, she needed this article to get out so I could see the 'proof' with my very eyes. It's rather immature if you ask me."

Both Harry and Ginny stared at him incredulously. "Are you that daft Ronald?" Ginny yelled. "Do you honestly think every person's life revolves around you? Honestly. What Hermione has to tell you has nothing to do with you other than her wanting you to accept her even though she has had major changes!"

Ron slumped in his chair, still believing his theory.

Harry held his witch in his arms to calm her down. "So what can you tell us Ginny?" he asked her in a soft voice.

"She's afraid she's going to lose the two of you once she tells you and she wants you guys to hear her out completely before making any rash decisions and hating her because her life is different now."

Harry nodded to show that he would listen carefully and told Ginny he would try and keep her brother in line.

* * *

Hermione paced back and forth as she waited. While she was nervous to tell Ginny, this level was in a completely different league. Draco and Blaise had once again accompanied her, but this time they had gone to a more private place in Diagon Alley. She was afraid that they might be overheard and that someone would tell the Prophet before she was ready.

As Ron and Harry arrived a few minutes late, Harry practically had to stop Ron from running up to her table. As he approached, both of their eyes widened at her appearance. Ron dumped the newspaper in front of her and stared at her without saying anything.

"Why don't you sit down?" Hermione asked them both.

"No," Ron said, while Harry sat down. "Hermione, I refuse to do anything until I know the truth. Why are you screwing around with both of those Death Eaters?" he asked with narrow eyes.

Hermione shot him a glare. "Ronald Weasley, sit down and I'll tell you everything."

As he refuse to move, Harry had to yank him down into the chair. He had his arms crossed and anger written over his face.

"Hermione, I know you loved me, but I've moved on. But that doesn't mean that you should go and fool around with the two of them. You also didn't need to change how you looked either," Ron said in an even voice.

Hermione's eyes widened at his statement and looked furious. "Ron, for once in your life, this has nothing to do with you," she hissed.

Harry, who was attempting to keep the peace, chose this moment to intervene. "So 'Mione, what happened?" he asked in a gently voice.

"I was happy with my parents. We had spent all of July just catching up after the war. Then one day, I woke up, feeling better than I probably ever had. As I went to the mirror, I saw myself looking like this, and was shocked beyond belief," Hermione started.

Harry looked at her while she spoke while Ron just scowled at the ground.

Hermione continued, "As I went downstairs, my parents sat me down and told me that we needed to talk. They told me that I was adopted and that my real parents wanted to stay neutral during the war. But Voldemort wanted to recruit me, and my brother." Harry's eyes widened at this while Ron looked up at her. "They wanted to give him away as well, but it was too late, so they hid me with a muggle family."

"So who are your real parents then?" Harry asked her while grabbing her hand.

"The Zabinis. The reason I've been seen with him is because he's my twin brother," she told them softly.

Harry tried to keep the shock out of his voice. "And what about Malfoy?" he asked her cautiously.

"He's staying with us. I think it's because he feels lonely at his home so he's spending the summer."

"And has how has he been treating you? Is he different, or is he the same ferret?" Harry asked her with brotherly concern.

"He's definitely different. He's changed since the war. He's grown softer and he seems to have had his mind broadened up. He doesn't believe in the same things he used to. I still don't completely trust him, but I'm giving him a second chance," she told them.

Ron hadn't said one word since she began her story. Nervously Hermione looked over at him. He had a neutral expression upon his face; one that Hermione was unable to read.

"Ron?" she asked him cautiously. "Are you okay?"

"Talking to me are you?" he sneered.

Hermione looked confused. "Why wouldn't I be? I did ask you to come meet me here."

"Isn't it obvious? You wanted us here so you could tell us that we could no longer be friends," Ron said with distaste. "After all, I'm a blood traitor and he's a half-blood."

Hermione looked appalled. "No! Ron, I just wanted you to know!" she said, near tears.

"You betrayed me," he yelled. "You decided to throw away our friendship for this new family. How could you be friends with those_ Death Eaters_? Hermione, they were the reason that this war occurred!"

The whole restaurant seemed to be watching them at this point. If only they had decided to go to a nosier place.

"They're not Death Eaters!" she said evenly. She refused to raise her voice. "They gave me up so they could keep me safe. They even joined the Light once they saw that it was inevitable to stay neutral."

"Well your boyfriend is definitely a Death Eater. I can't believe you Hermione. I thought you had morals and believed in equal rights. But now you are just like every other pureblood; arrogant and prideful. And you also turned out to be a common whore; screwing Malfoy since I dumped you," Ron screeched.

Hermione gaped. "How dare you Ronald Weasley. How many times do I have to tell you. I don't care about you and I never loved you. I am not screwing_ Draco_. And I haven't changed. I am still the same person I was back then," she said furiously.

"You'd be better off dead than being one of them," he hissed.

Hermione had tears forming in her eyes. Blaise and Draco came running over at that.

"I think you need to leave," Harry told Ron. "I'll see you at the Burrow, but you need to leave now before you say anything else."

Ron's eyes narrowed. "I see how it is. Of course you're taking her side. You always take her side." And with that he stormed out.

Blaise wrapped his arms around her and allowed her to cry. "Thank you Harry," she told him.

His eyes softened as they looked upon her. "Hermione, he's just being a prat. You didn't deserve that. You can't help it who your parents are, and I know they weren't Death Eaters. I remember your father helped me take down several of them before I turned myself over. I still love you 'Mione, no matter who your family is or how you look," he told her.

She threw her arms around him. "Thank you for understanding Harry. I can't lose you, you've been there for me since first year and I don't know what I would do without you," she said as she gripped him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her in tightly.

"Hermione, you've always been like a little sister to me, and there is no way I am going to let anyone ever hurt you."

Blaise smiled at his sister, but turned to Draco. "I'm going to kill him next time I see him," he told Draco. Draco nodded in agreement. "That weasel had no right to say those things to her."

Harry pulled apart from Hermione gently. "I need to go now, I have a date with Ginny later. But Hermione, I am here for you any time you need me," he told her as he planted a kiss on her forehead.

They said their good byes and as Blaise, Hermione, and Draco apparated away, none of them noticed a beetle on the windowsill, listening to the entire exchange.


	7. Retaliation

**Chapter 7**

_**Golden Girl: New Families, Lost Friends, and New Love Triangles?**_

_By: Rita Skeeter_

_As promised yesterday, this amazingly talented reporter has managed to get the scoop on what goes on in the life of a certain Hermione Granger. Yesterday, spotted in a quiet bar, was Ms. Granger, accompanied by her lovely men Malfoy and Zabini, as well as the rest of the Golden Trio. So why were they all there at the same time, one might ask? Well no need to fret my dear readers, because I have all the dirty secrets of what happened!_

_Granger first started by revealing to Potter and Weasley that she is in fact the pureblood child of the Zabinis. Now the Zabinis had been neutral during the war to protect their child. Who knew they had more than one of them? So that sorts out why she had been spotted with Blaise. But this was too much to take for Ronald Weasley. Finding out that she is different from his expectations set that ginger of the rails! He proclaimed that our favourite love hero "_turned out to be a common whore" _and that she would be better off dead. Ouch Weasley._

_But that didn't get Granger down for long. Harry Potter, before stating that he was to go on a date with the lovely Ginevra Weasley, proclaimed his love for Miss Hermione Granger. But he wasn't the only person who seems to have taken a love interest in the heroine. Draco Malfoy seemed extremely wounded at the harsh words and took it upon himself to personally comfort her. _

_Now readers, I don't know about you, but if I had two of the most famous men after me, then I wouldn't hesitate on taking them both for myself. Meow!_

_So who will Miss Hermione Granger choose; Mr. Potter or Mr. Malfoy? If only one could have both boys at once. And what shall she do over the loss of one of her age old friend? Stay tuned for more of this thrilling story._

"Ronald Weasley, you and Harry get your arses down here right now," Mrs. Weasley screeched as she threw down the copy of the paper. She was in a foul mood after reading how her son made a mockery of their family in public. And not to mention Harry making a move on Hermione while hurting her poor Ginny. What was this world coming to?

The two of them scurried down the stairs like little mice that had just been caught stealing something. She pointed at the two chairs in front of them and glared at the two of them.

"Sit," she said sternly. As they listened to her, confusion rested upon their faces. She picked up the article and threw it in their faces. "Do you want to tell me how much of this is truth, or will I have to ask poor Hermione to come over here and explain," she thundered angrily.

As the pair skimmed the article, Ron's face turned red from anger and Harry's from embarrassment.

"Mrs. Weasley, she took the thing I said out of context. I told Hermione that I love her like a sister and if anyone ever hurt her then I would personally go after them. I love Ginny and would never do anything to mess that up," Harry said sincerely.

Her face softened as she looked at her surrogate son, knowing that he was completely telling the truth. She had seen the two of them together and knew that they would always be like siblings to one an other.

"So is the part about Hermione true? Is she a pureblood?" she asked Harry, knowing full well Ron wasn't going to answer her questions.

He nodded. "She was given up to protect her from Voldemort and now that he is gone she has been told of her identity. Blaise is her twin brother," he told her.

Oh that poor girl. To have to find out something like this after eighteen years. It must have been absolutely heart-wrenching for her entire family, both adoptive and biological. She felt her heart go out to Hermione and hoped that it would all be okay. Which brought her to her next point.

She glared at her youngest son. "And Ronald, can I assume she made some sort of misprint and took what you said out of context as well?" she asked him in a careful yet still terrorizing voice.

He mumbled something she could not make out.

"What was that? Speak up Ronald," she said louder. How he was going to regret this if he answered wrongly.

"No," he said, still quietly but loud enough for her to hear. "No she didn't."

Molly felt the anger rush through her. "Ronald Bilus Weasley, how dare you say something like that to that poor girl? Hermione has done nothing but be nice to you and this is how you repay her? I demand you go over there and apologise for acting like such a foul being!" she yelled out, face turning full on red.

Ron winced at the sound of her voice but did not back down. "I don't though. I meant every last word of it. She needs to get over me without fooling around with others. She can do better than them but she still makes a slag out of herself just because she cannot get over me," he said in a voice with growing bravery.

She just laughed. "Is that so?" she asked him. "And why Ronald, do you see yourself as such a catch? If anything, with your relationship with her, it was she would was the catch. Ronald Weasley I am going to say this once. You are a good man, as I have often told you. But you are not above everyone else. What Hermione does, she doesn't do because of you. She is thinking of herself, which is exactly what she should be doing. You two decided that you are friends, and you did not dump her. She has no reason to 'whore herself' as you so delicately put. She is a grown woman and she is perfectly capable to do as she pleases. And she is not the type of woman who would do that sort of thing," she huffed out.

In a gentler voice she proceeded, "I'm sorry if I raised you in such a manner that made you believe that you are extremely important. You are sweetheart, but not to everyone. Hermione loves you, but not like that, and the last thing she needs right now is having you act like a first class git."

Ron stared at his hands and Molly knew that her lesson had sunken into his often thick skull. She gave him a reassuring pat on the back. "You should go apologise Ron."

"No. I refuse to see her now," he said stubbornly.

She gave him an annoyed glance before sending him out of the kitchen. She knew he would come around, but just needed some time.

Harry remained behind.

"Harry dear, do you and Ginny want to visit Hermione to see if she is doing alright? This must be hard on her and she probably needs the two of you around to help her through this confusing time in her life," she asked him.

He nodded eagerly, before racing up the stairs to find her only daughter, while Molly smiled to herself knowing that her work here was done.

* * *

Hermione slung herself over the armchair while the boys were busy engaging themselves in an intense game of wizarding chess. She honestly didn't see what it was that made boys go completely crazy over that barbaric game. When she had voice her thoughts on it, Draco and Blaise had begun to taunt her about her mere innocence to these sorts of games. Ruddy Gits.

It had reminded her so much of when Ron and Harry played the game. It would often get competitive between the two, as it was one of the few rare things that Ron beat Harry in. That itself was enough of an accomplishment for him, but he loved to showcase his talents off whenever he could.

Her heart sunk at the thought of Ron and the hurtful things he had said.

She had tried her best to forget about it, and she almost had for a while this morning before she had been instantly reminded as soon as she read the headlines that morning. Honestly Skeeter was becoming more of a problem that it was worth. She almost contemplated going straight down to the Law Enforcement department and turning in the unregistered animagus. But her nicer half had chosen that moment to take over, guilting her into not going after that wrecked woman.

Blaise and Draco had not been pleased one bit, nor had her parents. They were all upset that the pain Ron had given her had been so publicly announced. It was like salt in fresh wounds.

But her mother had managed to make light of the event stating that they need to properly introduce Hermione into society as her daughter. The words of a witch few believed would simply not be good enough. So she had decided to make a formal announcement in a few weeks' time before all of them returned back to Hogwarts to complete their final year.

She looked up at the sound of the fireplace receiving a floo to see Harry and Ginny standing there. They always did get their timing right on when she needed them both.

* * *

Draco looked up from his game to see Potter and the She-Weasel in the fireplace. He guessed that they would be making an appearance today. After yesterday's events, no matter how much Draco and Blaise were able to support her, she still needed them. After all, they were the ones who had been there for her for the past seven years.

He knew it hurt Blaise to be unable to shield his sister from the rant she got yesterday from that weasel, and secretly he wished he could have prevented it as well. No one deserved to be treated that way, especially not her. He didn't know what it was that Weasley was thinking. Hermione was one of the most innocent, purist people he had ever met in his life. She was the perfect Gryffindor; brave and courageous, while still managing to put others first. It came to no surprise that she had been dubbed the Gryffindor Princess; after all she was everything they value. And to accuse her of fooling around was unbelievable. He wanted to go after him and rip him limb from limb for hurting her so. She was definitely _not _better off dead.

He watched as the couple embraced Hermione in their arms and held her tight. Harry was telling her how much of a git Ron was and that he'll accept it sooner or later. The weaselette said that her brother would not be allowed anywhere near her until his thick-headed self, came to his senses.

Draco watched in envy. Not because of Hermione getting so much attention from them, but because they cared that much about her. It seemed to him that the only people who cared about Draco in the slightest were the Zabinis. His own father spent his entire life telling him how much of a disgrace he was and his mother kept silent, doing nothing through all the times he was beaten or hexed. But his only true friend was Blaise. Hermione was extremely lucky to have so many people in her life that cared about her.

He also owed a lot to Harry Potter. As much as he hated to admit it, Potter had saved his life that day in the Room of Requirements. It was also that day that Draco realised that he could not fight on Voldemort's side any longer. It was that day that changed his fate.

His father would probably kill him if he found out that he switched sides and owed his life to Potter. After all, Malfoys do not owe debts to anyone. Especially not the Chosen One. But then again, in his life he had done many, many things that his father would not approve of. The biggest example? He had fallen in love with a muggle-born at Hogwarts.


	8. Talking to Draco

**Chapter 8**

Hermione sat so that her body was curled up in the chair. She was in her favourite room of her new house, the library. The library was easily one of the biggest rooms in the entire house and had thousands of books of every sort. She had made it her haven soon after the Ron incident and chose to stay there and read. While what he said still hurt her, it didn't bother her too much. If he wanted to be that way, then it was his problem.

She thought back to a few days ago when her parents were talking to her about making an announcement to the wizarding world.

"_Hermione sweetheart, are you sure you're ready for the rest of the world to find out about this?" Cecilia asked her worriedly. They didn't want anyone knowing if she wasn't ready for them to._

_Hermione had thought about it over and over, but she knew there was no point in delaying it. Most of them already knew because of Skeeter, so there was no use trying to deny the truth. The sooner they admitted it, the easier it would be._

"_Yes, I'm sure," Hermione said hesitantly before her next word. She was partially afraid to use it, seeing as she thought it would mean that her biological family no longer would have a claim over her. Looking back on it now, she realised how silly it was. But saying it that first time was scary in her eyes. "Mum, Dad, I want to be a part of this family officially," she said._

_Their eyes widened at her use of their parental names. Her mother had tears brimming her eyes while her father broke into the widest smile she had ever seen. They embraced her in their arms while Blaise stood by smiling at the event. She pulled him into the hug and he gladly reciprocated. They were as happy to have her back in their family as she was to be back._

As she thought back to that moment she knew that unreasonable for her to think that it would sever her relationship with her adoptive parents. They had been in her life for seventeen years and just because Hermione was now acknowledging them as her parents did not mean that the Grangers were no longer family.

She flipped the page, allowing her mind to get sucked into the story in front of her. Draco had been somewhere around the house while her parents had gone out for the day to arrange the conference and Blaise was gone out somewhere she assumed to be Daphne related. She had tried to ask her brother about it earlier but he had brushed off all her attempts to learn the truth. But one way or the other she would find out what exactly was going on with the two of them.

"Reading anything good?" a voice behind her said suddenly.

Hermione jumped out of her chair at the sound. She looked up to see Draco in front of her with a huge smirk upon his face. She glared at his unexpected presence. She expected him to be out flying or something. Not here in the library.

He didn't make her as uncomfortable as he used to, but at the same time they weren't close either. This was probably the first time she had been alone in his presence for as long as she could remember. There was always someone else there, whether it was Harry, Ron, or Blaise. But for some reason, it didn't bother her that he was here.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" she said in an annoyed voice.

"I wasn't exactly sneaking up on you. I came up right in front of you. It's not my fault you were top engrossed into your book," he said slyly. "So what exactly are you reading that's got you so interested anyway?"

"The newest edition of Hogwarts: A History," she said excitedly. She had been so happy to find this book at the wizarding library in Diagon Alley. The library had moved in shortly after the war had ended and quickly became a popular location there. While Hermione knew she could easily just have bought the book, she felt extremely guilty spending money even though it was not a problem for her family.

"Haven't you read the book like a thousand times by now?" he asked in a mock shocked voice.

"Only forty-three," she said simply. "Besides, this one has things in it that the last edition didn't have."

He shook his head. "Mind if I sit down?" he asked while gesturing to the chair opposite to her.

She shrugged her shoulders in a nonchalant manner. He sat down across from her, but did not pick up a book. He just stared at her, like he was trying to figure her out.

Hermione tried to ignore it. She tried to allow herself to get sucked back into her book. But it didn't happen. She was far too distracted by the pale blonde boy sitting in front of her. There was something about him that made it hard for her to focus.

"I wanted to apologise to you Hermione," Draco said softly.

She looked up at him surprised at his sudden apology. "For what exactly?" she asked a bit skeptically.

"For everything. For taunting you for all those years, and for accidently cursing your teeth into an enormous size. For standing by as my _aunt_ cursed you. For not being able to help you when you needed it," he said in an uncertain voice.

"Why?" she asked, voice quivering. "Why now? Is it because I am now a pureblood, so I am no longer beneath you? Because if it is, then you are just as bad as you were back then. I am still the same person regardless of my blood status," she huffed out, standing up to leave the library in her house. The last thing she wanted was to argue with her brother's best friend.

He stood up as she did and held a hand up. "Please Hermione, listen to what I have to say first," he pleaded. She saw the sincerity in his eyes and knew that he needed to say something to her. She sighed softly as she reclaimed her position in her chair.

"Hermione, I was going to come looking for you regardless of your status. I also was going to find Ron and Harry as well. I was raised by my parents in a manner that told me that muggle-borns and muggles are less superior. And I had that beaten into me. I grew up shielded from the rest of the world, so I believed what my parents said to be true. But after this war I realised that none of it in the slightest could possibly true. I saw the suffering that this war had caused, and found myself abandoning everything that my father and mother nailed into my brain. Hermione, it just made it easier to talk to you now that you're my friend's sister. Otherwise I doubt that you would have listened. So I am sorry for all the grief I've caused you. I know that it's a lot for you to take in, but hopefully you can find it in your heart to forgive me for everything I've done to you. But if you can't, then I completely understand and won't force my presence upon you any longer," he said, ending in a bit of a rush.

She knew that he was nervous, and from his facial expression, she knew that he told the truth with everything he said. "Yes," she said simply.

"Yes?" he asked, confused of what the word was an answer to.

"I forgive you," she told him lightly. She gave him a smile and she knew that it was not the answer that he was expecting.

"Y-you do?" he asked surprised.

"I might not have if I hadn't spent the last three weeks in the same house as you. But seeing you every day has showed me just how much of a different person. And everyone deserves a second chance. So if the war has changed you like you say it has, then I'm willing to give you a second chance," she told him.

He got up from his chair and scooped her into a tight hug. "Thanks," he said softly. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist tenderly.

She felt her cheeks turn red as she slung her arms around him as well. She wasn't sure why they did; after all she had hugged so many times without it happening. But she chalked it up to the fact that she wasn't prepared for the hug.

They pulled apart and they returned to their spots on their respective chairs. She put her book aside and the two of them decided to spend the afternoon talking. They began lightly, talking about favourite authors and books. Hermione had never met another person so into books as she was. Surprisingly, they liked most of the same books. They then moved on to other topics, such as school and other general things.

"Wait, so even though most of your friends love Quidditch, you're telling me that you don't like the sport?" Draco asked shocked.

She shrugged. "It's not so much the sport as it is the flying," she admitted shyly. She rarely told people about this, as it made her feel vulnerable.

"What's wrong with flying?" he asked. "It gives you a sense of rush as you race through the sky on merely a broomstick."

"Exactly, it's terrifying!" she exclaimed. "What if you fall off then die or something?" she said with a shudder.

"You're scared of heights," he stated knowingly. "Hermione Granger, who is good at everything can't fly because she hates heights?"

She shot him a scowl. "It's a phobia! You can't just get over stuff like that. Especially not through books."

He gave her one of his well-known smiles. "I bet if you went with the right person then you would love it," he said as he wagged his eyebrows up and down.

She burst into laughter. "Sure Malfoy, in your dreams!" she smirked at him.

He glowered. "I didn't mean with me you nit-wit. And I don't like that smirk on your face. Blaise and I are starting to rub off the wrong way on you."

She kept laughing and he couldn't help but laugh along with her. She wasn't sure what it was, but there was something about the sound of his laughter that filled her with happiness. His voice was just so soft and musical.

After they calmed down, their conversation took a more serious turn.

"Do you mind if I ask you something personal?" Hermione asked him carefully. She didn't want to wreck their new found friendship so quickly.

"Anything you want," he told her. "I don't have secrets with Blaise, so that same thing now extends to you as well. So ask away."

"Why did you become a Death Eater?" she asked him curiously.

She saw his eyes immediately drop to his left forearm. While the mark had faded quickly after the war (mainly because Draco was not loyal to him in the end), the area still was slightly scarred from the mark. But unlike what she was afraid of, he did not close himself off from her.

"I was afraid," he whispered. "I was sixteen and didn't know any better. I wanted my father's approval and to make my mother proud. Little did I know that my father would never approve of anything I did, nor could my mother be proud of the things I did." He lowered his gaze from hers, not wanting to make any eye contact.

"Your mother would be proud of you now. If she saw the person you have grown into, then she would be proud to call you her son. And Draco, we're proud of you. My entire family loves you dearly and we all approve of the person you are now," she told him softly. She got up from her chair and sat down beside him, wrapping a protective arm around him.

He smiled at her. "Thank you Hermione. Thank you for forgiving me and accepting me in spite of how horrid I've been to you."

She smiled back at him, "You're a different person now Draco Malfoy. And as long as you don't change back, then I don't have a problem with you."

They sat like that for a while, silently. Draco saw her eyeing her book. He laughed before telling her to go get the book. The two of them sat like that reading, with her leaning against his muscular figure and him reading a book on Quidditch with one arm wrapped around her waist.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, favouriting following this story. Seriously guys, it's amazing how much you guys care about this story.


	9. Hogwarts Letters and Telling the World

**Chapter 9**

"Hermione, Draco, Blaise, there are some owls from Hogwarts here, with a letter for each of you," her mother yelled out to the three of them.

Hermione had been upstairs in the middle of writing an owl to Harry. He had been telling her how he was excited about going back to school. For once in his life he no longer had the impending doom of Voldemort hanging over his head. Harry could now go on with a normal life. She felt happy for him. After all he had gone through he deserved some peace and quiet.

At the sound of her mom's voice she quickly finished up the letter and sent it off with Hedwig, who eagerly seemed to be waiting for a reply. She then retreated downstairs to see her letter from her favourite school.

As she went downstairs her mom handed her the letter addressed to her. She noticed it was addressed to Hermione Zabini instead of Granger. Dumbledore really did seem to keep up with practically everything didn't he?

_Dear Miss Hermione Zabini_

_Welcome back to your eight year at Hogwarts. Due to the fact that your year missed the proper schooling, we have invited you to return to take an accelerated eight year program where you will be able to take the same courses as the seventh years but this program will also incorporate some of the teachings of the field you wish to go into. What this will achieve is that by the end of the year you will be caught up to where you would have been had you gone straight into that field this year._

_As you will also find enclosed is the Head Girl Badge. Congratulations on this position, as it well deserved. You and the Head Boy are expected to meet with myself in the Heads cabin of the Hogwarts Express before the train leaves to learn your duties._

_Deputy Headmistress,_

_Minerva McGonagall _

"I got Head Girl!" she told her mother excitedly.

Her mother gave her a tight embrace. "Congratulations sweetheart. I knew that you would be Head Girl. After all you have gone through, there was never any doubt in my mind that you had it in you to do so."

"Oh I do hope someone likable is Head Boy. Hopefully it will be someone like Ron or Ernie or maybe even-"

"Or maybe me," a voice drawled from behind her.

She turned around and saw Draco holding up his Head Boy badge. He had a smirk upon his face as he stared at the badge in his hand.

She had a shocked look on her face. "You're Head Boy?" she exclaimed loudly.

"No need to sound so disappointed," he said gruffly. "I know I'm not your ideal choice and all." He had a displeased look on his face and Hermione knew that he had taken what her exclamation the wrong way.

She clapped her hands together, "No Draco, this is perfect! The Heads have to live together and I know that I get along well with you, so I don't have to worry about it being someone horrid that I can't stand."

"Perfect, now my best friend and sister have decided to ditch me alone in the Slytherin common room with the likes of Pansy Parkinson," he stated with a disgruntled look on his face.

"Now Blaise, Pansy is a very nice girl and she deserves to be treated with respect," his mother chided him.

"I apologise Mother," he said solemnly before winking at Draco when she turned her back to him.

"And Blaise, I wasn't in your house to begin with so I am not exactly ditching you," Hermione reminded him with a laugh.

"Besides mate, you're welcome to visit us whenever you want to," Draco told his friend.

Blaise let out a dramatic sigh. "I suppose I can live with that," he said, causing the three of them to break out into laughter once more.

She gave both Blaise and Draco a quick embrace before running back up to her room to send off another owl to Ginny and Harry.

Draco stared after her, bewildered about what just happened.

* * *

Blaise knew that it was time to have a talk with his friend. After seeing that exchange between Hermione and Draco he knew he couldn't wait any longer to do so.

He had been the only person who knew that Draco Malfoy had been in love with Hermione Granger since their third year. Of course Draco had never come out and said it as such, but you don't be childhood friends without being able to pick up things like whether your best mate has a crush on girl on not.

He took in a deep breath. "Draco we need to talk," he told his friend, gesturing him into his room. Draco bore a confused look upon his face, but obliged.

"What is it Blaise?" he asked his friend.

"I know you care about Hermione; and as more than merely a friend Draco. I know that you are in love with her," Blaise blurted out.

"I-uh-what? Where did you get that idea?" Draco stuttered as he tried to keep a composed expression on his face.

Blaise just gave his friend a look. "Draco. I know you. And I know that you love her." He just stared at Draco, daring him to deny the truth once more.

Draco looked defeated. "Okay, maybe I do love her. But I'm not planning on acting upon it, I swear," he said in a voice Blaise knew he could trust.

"Draco, it's not that I don't want you to be with her. I want Hermione to be happy, and if you make her happy then I can accept it. But I just got her back, and I don't want to lose her so soon. And it doesn't help that you are going to be sharing a dorm with her. I know the kinds of things that go through guys our ages' minds; after all I am one myself. But I don't want you to hurt her. And if you do, I swear Draco I won't hesitate in killing you," he told his friend in a protective voice.

Draco just looked at Blaise. "I'm not planning on acting on my feelings. I just got her respect and trust. The last thing I'd want to do is ruin it." He ran his hands through his hair. "I mean don't get me wrong. I would absolutely love to be with her, but I don't want to pressure her into anything that she isn't ready for. And I don't think she needs a relationship right now. If by some odd chance she decides she wants me then by all means I'll jump at the chance, but otherwise it is strictly going to be friendship between the two of us."

Blaise was pleased. There was nothing more he wanted than seeing her sister and friend together, after all, they would be perfect with one another. But he needed to know of Draco's intentions with her sister. While he knew that Draco would never do it, a lot of Slytherins would be with a girl for the physical parts of a relationship, then just throw them away like yesterday's news. And the last thing he wanted was for his perfect, pure, innocent sister to be treated like trash.

* * *

Hermione looked around her sitting room nervously. Her mother and father had called together some of the most important reporters across Europe to break their story to the public. She and her family had talked about how this would go. She knew what she had to say and when she should say it. There was no reason for her to be nervous. But here she was, nervous beyond control.

Blaise placed an arm around her. "Don't worry 'Mione. It will be alright," he whispered in her ear. Her father and mother sat on either side of them to project more of a family image. Draco, who didn't want to be in the public eye any more than he had to, had been waiting in the library for it to be over. Hermione felt a twinge of guilt that he felt the need to hide himself away, but he had assured her several times that it was what he had wanted. After both of his parents' trials, the last he wanted was the press to write any more on him if he could help it.

"Hello everyone," her mother greeted the audience in front of them. "I know there have been a lot of rumours circulating about our family lately, and we have decided that it is time that we officially told the public our story."

She began her tale and told it in such a wondrous manner. Her mother had a way of enticing her audience with the simplest of words. She had them grasping on to her every word and used her emotions to help narrate their story. Their quills wrote furiously as the reporters sat on the edges of their chairs, waiting to see what would happen.

"And finally after eighteen long years, we have finally been able to claim our daughter as ours once more," her mother finished, wiping away a tear with a satin handkerchief.

There was not a single dry eye for the female reporters, and the males looked affected by the story as well.

One of the reporters stood up, "Mrs. Zabini, how does it make you feel that your daughter is Hermione of the Golden Trio?" she asked.

Her mother beamed, "I am extremely proud of her and her role in bringing the war to an end. Knowing that she has been deemed the intelligence of the operation gives me such joy. She has brought pure happiness to this family since she has returned."

"Blaise, how do you feel about having a twin?" a reporter asked him. "Do you feel that this will change how your fellow classmates see you?"

Blaise gave the reporter a smile. "I've never been happier to have a sibling. I always felt that a part of me had been missing and now that Hermione is back, I feel like it was how it should be. And if anyone has a problem with the fact that I have a sister, then it is their problem. Hermione comes firth and foremost in my eyes, and if anyone has a problem with her, then they shall answer to me."

"Hermione, how has finding this news affected your relationship with your friends? Was the feud you had a few weeks back pertaining to this? Does that mean that your friends do not approve?"

"My friends have never been happier for me. That fight was not a fight," she told them. "In actuality, the reporter spun the story around to make it seem that there was something that could possibly break apart the Golden Trio apart. We have never been closer and this news has done nothing to that friend ship. They support me and love me regardless of my family or blood status," she told the press confidently. She saw her family give her a proud smile, and she knew that she said the right thing.

"So you're telling me that nothing happened that day with a certain Ronald Weasley?" a voice came from the back. The witch stood up, and Hermione saw that it was Rita Skeeter. She knew her family definitely did not invite her, so how was she here? That lousy animagus!

Hermione smiled at the witch, "Mrs. Skeeter, what a pleasure as always. I am certain that you misunderstood the situation. Ron and I have always been quite close, and while he may not always come to terms with everything right away, there is no reason that he would have said anything that you published that day to me. I am sorry that you seemed to think that it was what happened, but Ron is a dear friend to me," she said in her sweetest voice.

Rita looked embarrassed by Hermione's statement and sat down without saying anything. That would teach her a lesson. And Hermione knew that she would need to talk to her real soon about who had the upper hand in their relationship. She hated blackmail, but sometimes it was the only thing that got through to witches like her.

More reporters stood up to ask questions, but her mother simply raised her hand. "That will be all for today. Now allow me to see you out," she said just as sweetly as her daughter.

Hermione let out a deep breath. Thank god that was all over.


	10. The Hogwarts Expres

**Chapter 10**

Hermione checked her watch again. It was ten forty-five. They had fifteen minutes before the train was supposed to leave.

They had gotten there extremely early. Between her and her mother, neither of them wanted to be late for the first day at Hogwarts. The boys merely rolled their eyes, but Hermione had reminded them that she and Draco were supposed to meet Professor McGonagall before the train left the station.

She looked around Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Nothing had changed from when she had first shown up at the age of eleven. She, of course, had known how to get on to the platform regardless of the fact that she was a muggle-born. It was all written down in Hogwarts: A History, and while she was unsure about if it would actually work or not, she found herself trusting her instincts and just running into the wall with her trolley.

"Hermione, Blaise, promise you'll write to us," her mother told her tearfully. "You too Draco. Don't think that you can get out of it," she added as he laughed.

Hermione gave her mum a tight embrace. "Don't worry, I'll write as frequently as I can," she told her softly. She then moved to her father and gave him a tight hug as well.

"Blaise, promise me that you won't let any guys touch my princess," he told his son. "I don't want anyone hurting my baby girl."

Blaise nodded solemnly. "No one is even going to be allowed to look in her direction if I can help it," he told his father.

Hermione and her mother rolled their eyes. "Yes Daddy, I won't date any guys that Blaise doesn't approve of, but now we really need to go," she told her father.

Both her parents pulled Draco into a tight hug before letting him go. "Draco, we are extremely proud of you. Don't ever forget that," They told him. He gave them a smile, and Hermione knew that it was completely sincere.

As the three of them bordered the train, Cecilia and Antonio waved to them. Once they were no longer in sight, she turned to her husband and said, "You know Draco and Hermione are going to end up together right?" she asked him.

All Antonio did was growl in response

* * *

As Hermione and Draco entered the Heads' cabin, they noticed Professor McGonagall was already there waiting for the two of them. She gave them both a smile and they sat down across from each other while she stood against the door.

"Welcome back Mr. Malfoy and Miss. Zabini," she told the two of them. "To start off, you two will be responsible for leading the first years to the school this year, as Dumbledore had requested it to become a duty of the Head students. In addition to that, you are responsible for planning all the events and Hogsmeade trips this year. We also want for there to be a Christmas Ball before the Holidays. You must also schedule the prefect rounds this year," she told the two of them.

Hermione sat there, nodding intently on her every word. Draco, like Hermione, seemed to be paying deep attention to the Deputy Headmistress.

"Because the two of you are eight years and Head students, you will be allowed a later curfew of one in the morning. You also will be allowed to visit Hogsmeade any day you wish, as long as it doesn't get in the ways of your studies. Do the two of you have any questions about your duties?"

As both of the two said no to her, McGonagall smiled at them once more before saying, "I will leave you to it now. Come see me after dinner and I shall show you both the way to your dorms."

As she left, a stream of Prefects poured into the cabin. Hermione saw Ron among the Gryffindor prefects, but didn't make eye contact. Just because she rescued him from the piranhas of the press did not mean she had forgiven him for hurting her without apology.

He had tried to get her attention, but as Hermione made a point not to look his way, he understood and stopped trying. The cabin was fairly large, so it had been able to accommodate the large mass of students it now held.

Draco began to address them and relayed their duties and that they were just as responsible for helping plan all the events. They were ecstatic at the mention of the ball. After he calmed them down, he gave them the password to the Prefect's bathroom.

He looked at Hermione to see if she had anything to add, "Hermione?"

She smiled at him before beginning. "I'm sure I do not have to mention how big of a privilege it is to be a Prefect. But misuse of the power will not be tolerated. Any such action will result in the immediate stripping of your badge and power. But other than that, meeting adjourned," she announced.

As they all piled out, Hermione noticed Pansy staying behind. She walked up to Draco and tried to drape herself over his lap. "Draco sweetie, tell the mudblood to leave so we can have some time to ourselves," she told him sweetly.

Draco looked extremely pissed at the mention of the word. He dumped her off her lap and Hermione found herself smiling smugly.

Pansy glowered at him, "Baby what was that for?" she asked rubbed her bottom after standing up. "Don't you want me?" she asked confused.

Draco shook his head. "Pansy, I never wanted you, and I do not want you now. And I never want to hear you use that word again," he told her.

Pansy shot daggers at Hermione. "You _mudblood!_ You stole Draco from me!" she hissed.

Hermione gave her a sweet smile. "Pansy, in case you haven't heard, I am a pureblood. I am a Zabini and by that, my blood is purer than yours ever was, just as my heart is. And even if I wasn't, it wouldn't matter. Blood status doesn't determine anything in this world anymore. There is no supremacy. So in case you are extremely far behind on the mechanics of this world, I suggest you keep up with the times," she told her.

Pansy looked extremely offended. "Whatever. You are still the same mudblood you were back then. But I suggest you watch your back, you never know who's in the shadows." And with that she stalked off.

Draco burst into laughter, "That was brilliant," he told her with a smile. "It was time someone told her off for being such a prick."

"Thanks," she said returning his smile. "But I have to admit, that comment was rather creepy."

"Is Hermione scared?" he teased. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

She slapped his arm playfully. "Are you sure you can protect me? I after all, am the brightest witch of our age," she said smugly.

They were then interrupted from having any private conversation. At that moment, Blaise, Ginny, and Harry, had come into their compartment and made themselves at home. Draco looked playfully disgruntled at their take over.

"Did I say you lot were allowed to come in here and use _my_ cabin? I don't want visitors," he said, pretending to be like his old arrogant self.

Harry scoffed, "Who said we are here to see you Malfoy? We are here to see our lovely friend Hermione."

Hermione laughed at this. "Sorry Malfoy, but if you want you can always leave."

"No chance at that," Draco said sulking. "There's no space anywhere else except with the Gryffindorks. And I'd rather not be contaminated this early on in the year. As it is I can barely stand your lot."

"Thank you so much for deeming us worthy of your presence Malfoy," Ginny said sarcastically.

The five of them burst out laughing. While that type of conversation may have been typical for them in their earlier years, since Hermione had become a Zabini, they found themselves often bickering playfully. It was never anything serious, and they all knew not to take it as such.

"So Malfoy, do you reckon you're ready to loose once more in Quidditch?" Harry asked the blonde casually.

Draco sneered, "Yeah right Potter. This is my year, I can feel it."

Hermione huffed. "And already the Quidditch talk begins," she pouted.

Blaise laughed. "'Mione, you are the only one here not into the sport. Don't worry, we understand that you have a lack of coordination though," he teased. Everyone around her burst out into laughter while she let out another huff.

Blaise engaged Harry in a conversation. "So Harry, what area are you looking to go into this year," he asked.

Harry looked thoughtful about it for a little while, but quickly answered the question. "I'm want to be an Auror. That way I can bring in the rest of the Death Eaters still on the loose."

Hermione subconsciously found herself rubbing her left forearm at that point. Harry noticed her action before giving her a tight hug. "How is everything Hermione? Do you still have nightmar-"

She cut him off from finishing. "Much better," she said, lying to her best friend. She felt horrendous about it, but she didn't want him to worry about her any more than he already did. He would still blame himself for it. After all, he was the person who said Voldemort's name and led the snatchers straight to them. But she didn't blame him. He couldn't have known the name was tabooed. And he already blamed himself for so much.

He looked a little confused about her quick response, but decided to let it go. "Okay, if you say so," he said, while watching her carefully.

Blaise and Draco had caught the exchange, knowing full well that she was still having nightmares about something. But they didn't say anything. If Hermione wanted people to know, then she would tell them. And they respected her decision on that.

* * *

About halfway through their trip, a blonde girl wandered into their compartment by mistake. She looked around and blushed furiously at the sight of Hermione's brother. "Oh sorry, I must have entered the wrong compartment," she said.

Hermione knew that the girl was Daphne Greengrass. And from the look of Blaise's face at the sight of her, he wanted to do more than just know her.

As the girl exited the compartment, Blaise ran out after her. "Daphne wait," he called out.

She turned to Hermione's brother and gave him a questioning look. "Let me walk you back to your compartment," he told her.

Daphne smiled softly and said, "I'd like that."

As the two of them walked off, Hermione stood watching. So her brother did like the witch! She would need to corner her later to find out exactly what was going on between the two of them. Draco caught her eye and she knew he had a similar idea.

As Blaise returned some time later, everyone did their best not to pounce on him with questions. But as Hermione was, they were all eager to know what was going on in her brother's love life. What could she say, they were all quite nosy. He had a huge grin on his face and Hermione had to hold herself down to prevent herself from pouncing on him.

While he had only been her brother for a month, she and Blaise had already grown quite close. They knew how the other was feeling all the time without having to ask the other. They cared for each other and nothing would get in the way of her relationship with him. It was different than the one she shared with either Ginny or Harry, but it was no weaker than either of the relationships she had with her friends.

It still amazed her how much Harry and Ginny were able to get along with Draco and Blaise. Of course Draco and Harry were not best friends, but they could put up with each other without trying to throttle one another. And for that she was extremely grateful.

She couldn't wait to start this new school year and face whatever it had held for her. Little did Hermione know just what that entailed.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you guys for the reviews! They are always so amazing to read. I love getting feedback on what you think should happen and what you think of the story.


	11. Arriving at Hogwarts

**Chapter 11**

Hermione got off the train and stretched her arms. It had been a long journey and she was happy to reach the school. Draco and Blaise had spent the entire time caught up in a game of wizard chess, which Harry had chosen to join after the first couple games. To both of their dismay, Harry had bested the pair of them. He simply had laughed at this and told them he learnt from the best.

As she looked around she noticed Neville and Luna step off the train together while holding hands. After the war, the two of them had immediately gotten together. As Harry and Ginny, the two of them hadn't wanted to spend any more time apart from each other.

The returning students made their way to the carriages whereas the first years were completely awestruck with the school. Hermione smiled to herself remembering how she was at that age. She had been completely caught up with the sight of the school and almost got left behind.

"Ready?" Draco asked as he came up from behind her. His hair was slightly messed up from the journey, but still looked neater than Harry's hair on a good day.

"Yes," she said. She gave them another minute to admire their school. "First years, follow us," she called out.

Their tiny heads immediately turned in her direction. She and Draco herded the students towards the school while trying not to lose any of the students. It was hard in the sense that they were busy watching every single thing that came their way.

Hermione and Draco had to keep waiting for them to catch up in order to keep their group together. During one of their breaks, Draco turned to Hermione.

"Do you remember when we were their age?" Draco asked her as they turned around to watch the slow students slowly catch up to the two of them.

"Completely. You were a righteous git you know?" she asked him teasingly. "You used to slick your hair all back thinking it made you look cool."

He looked offended at this. "My hair was sexy. And at least I did something to my hair, unlike you who left it completely bushy. I swear your head was purely hair," he said while running his hands through his hair. He then took a strand of her hair and felt the smoothness of her locks.

Hermione huffed and turned her attention the first years who had now caught up to them. "No stragglers? Alright, now we cross the Black Lake. I want no more than four of you to a boat, do you understand?" she asked them.

They all nodded their eager little heads and quickly attempted to climb their ways into the boats.

"Oi, be careful," Draco called out. "There are a lot of merpeople, a giant squid, and Merlin knows what else in this lake. If you fall you may not be lucky."

Hermione laughed as they continued more cautiously to get into the boats. After making sure they were all loaded up, she and Draco took the boat at the front.

Draco turned to her. "How are you Hermione?" he asked her softly. "I know you lied to Harry about the nightmares you've been having. What are they about?"

Hermione shook her head. "I'd rather not talk about it," she said stiffly. How could she possible tell him that her nightmares are because of his aunt? As it was he was beating himself up over the incident. It would probably hurt him further to know the truth.

He looked determined. "I have them too sometimes," he whispered to her. "I think about the war all the time and I see the faces of the many people killed around me. There were so many times where wish that I could have stopped it. But I was powerless to help those innocent people."

She gave him a shocked look. "Draco Malfoy, it was not your fault. If you had tried anything, you probably would have been killed on the spot. And that wouldn't have done anything to help anyone. It wasn't your fault that you had to grow up under those circumstances. "

He shook his head. "I know, but there was always something I could have done, you know? There is always another option. And I just didn't take it when I should have." He looked down into the water, ashamed of his past and the things he had seen and done.

Hermione felt a great amount of sorrow go through her as she watched his pain and agony. "Draco, there isn't always another option. And you didn't have one to take. And the minute you did, you took it," she told him. She grabbed his hand and took it in hers. "Everyone is proud of you Draco, including myself. Even Harry, who is rather stubborn at times, has decided that you are worth it."

He tried to brush off the subject. "So will you tell me then if your dreams continue or get worse?" he asked her, while looking into her eyes.

She gave him a smile. "I hope it doesn't come to that, but if it is completely unbearable, then I shall let you know," she told him reassuringly. She hoped it wouldn't come to that. The last thing she wanted to do was cause any more worry because of her. But if it did then she would have to eventually let someone else know.

He smiled back, but didn't say anything else. For now they had reached the school.

The two of them helped all the students out of their boats and lead them up to the castle doors. Professor McGonagall was there to greet them. The two Heads watched as she gave them their usual spiel about how the school works and their house duties. After she was done, the two of them followed her into the school while the first years waited outside the doors eager and anxious to be sorted into their houses.

* * *

After the feast had ended Draco and Hermione watched the Great Hall clear out as they approached the Deputy Headmistress. She greeted them both with a smile. As the three of them began to walk towards their rooms, she spoke to them.

"Miss Zabini, Mr Malfoy. I would like to thank you for bringing the students into the school in one piece. I know that in the past years a task that would have to be done between the two of you would not always have gone smoothly. So thank you for putting aside your differences this year. I do have to say, I was a bit worried when Professor Dumbledore told me that he was making the two of you the Head students," she told the two of them honestly.

Hermione smiled at her. "All of that animosity is now in the past. Draco and I have learned to see from the other's point of view. And it helps that he stayed over at the house this summer," she told her.

"Miss Zabini, how has your summer been? I know it was a lot for you to take in at once. Once I read the Prophet, I must say I was extremely pleased at how well you had been taking the news," the Professor asked her.

"It has been a bit confusing, but I've come to terms with it and begun to enjoy having a brother and a new family. Of course I still keep in contact with my old one as well," she told her cheerfully.

McGonagall then turned to Draco, "And you dear? How has the adjustment been for you after the war?" she asked the blonde boy.

Draco gave her one of his gracious smiles. "It has had its ups and downs, but the Zabinis have been grateful enough to give me a place to stay this summer.

She gave him a nod of approval, "I'm glad," she said simply. "I have always been slightly worried about you. And forgive me for saying so, but I always knew that the two of you would end up together," she told the couple.

Hermione reddened as her eyes widened. Draco did the same, however minus the blush. "P-Professor, Draco and I are not together! We are just friends!" Hermione exclaimed after her initial shock wore away.

Draco looked stunned still. Hermione elbowed him and he snapped out of it. "Oh no. Definitely not together Professor! She's my best friend's little sister. Do you know how much he would hex me if the thought even crossed my mind?" he sputtered out.

She raised her eyebrow at the two of them but didn't say something. She gave them a look as well, signifying that she knew something about the two of them that they didn't. Hermione felt extremely grateful that they had chosen that moment then to reach the portrait of her new room.

It was a picture of a young witch and wizard together in a garden swing. "Password?" they asked together at the same time.

Minerva looked at the two of them, "You may choose whatever password the two of you wish."

Hermione looked at Draco, "How about _concordis domos_?" she asked him after a minute of thinking.

He looked baffled. "What does that mean" he asked her after trying to figure it out for himself.

She gave him a smile, "Houses in Harmony," she said, feeling pleased with her translation skills.

"Perfect," he said with a grin. They said it together in unison, after it was their first time declaring the password. Professor McGonagall left them to their own devices for the night as they entered their dorm room.

They entered the room and their mouths immediately dropped with shock. Their common room was just as large as either the Slytherin or the Gryffindor ones. As the two of them began wandering inside their new room, they each found a room with the words 'Head Boy' and 'Head Girl' engraved over them.

Hermione wandered into her room and saw that it had a bookshelf filled with her most favourites, but as well as a few books that she did not previously own. She also saw a large queen sized bed in the middle of the room. It was similar to the one she possessed back at home, to her pleasure. The room was filled with a warm tone; the walls were a wondrous deep red, which was matched by the rest of the furniture in the room. She immediately fell at home in the room, as she did in the past.

Draco bombarded her room at that moment and fell straight on her mattress.

"Hey! Go back to your own room," she exclaimed. "This is my room!"

"Mmm, but your bed is so much comfier," he said as he rolled in her bed. He then looked over her room and burst into laughter. "Why am I not surprised that you would have books in here?"

"Because I like books, and I love to read. Now leave Malfoy," she said with a glare.

He didn't show any motion of leaving. Irritated, Hermione grabbed a book from her bookshelf and plopped herself next to him on the bed. She turned to the first page of the book and began to read.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, shocked by her action.

She shot him a look. "I'm lying in _my_ bed reading a book. Now either you shut up, or you leave!" she said with a huff.

This seemed to quiet him for a couple of minutes. But as always, Draco Malfoy couldn't stay quiet for long.

He smirked at her "You know Zabini, the two of us are here in this bed. I can think of a lot of other things we could be doing other than me watching you read," he said with a husky voice.

Hermione looked mortified by his crude suggestion. "Draco Malfoy, you leave my room this instant before I hex you out of here!" she yelled.

He burst into laughter and left her room. As he closed the door, Hermione found herself staring after him. Something about his behaviour let a new feeling fill Hermione's body. While horrified by his suggestion, she couldn't help but feel a bit empty by him leaving.

"Don't be silly," she told herself. "You're still trying to rid your system of Professor McGonagall's suggestion."

And she kept repeating that line to herself while trying to fall asleep, while struggling to believe it.


	12. The Slytherins and Continuing Nightmares

**Chapter 12**

Pansy sat down on the couch of the Slytherin common room. Ever since Draco had turned her down on the train she had been in a bad mood. No one turned down Pansy Parkinson, and that included Draco Malfoy. She had no idea what had gotten into the boy lately. In the past while he may not have always been welcoming of her gestures, he never just tossed her off for someone else. To say that she was offended would be a large understatement. She was beyond pissed at the moment and had already taken out her anger on several first years that had entered the room.

Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini chose that moment to plop themselves on the leather couches as well. Neither of which had chosen to somehow acknowledge her presence. She had no idea what had gotten into the Slytherin boys lately. She was HOT. And everyone knew that. She didn't spend the summer in Paris to improve her looks for nothing. So why wasn't she getting any attention?

"Well if it isn't the little blood traitor!" Pansy hissed angrily at Blaise.

The tan boy looked up from his book and gave her a lazy look. "What have I done now?" he asked her, but had a taste of disinterest in his voice as he spoke.

"You made the _Mudblood _your family! How could you do that Blaise? After what she and Potter did during the war! How could you choose her over your loyalty?" she asked him with her anger flaring. What that boy did made no sense. First Draco betrays his entire family, now Blaise chose _her_.

He gave her a cold look. "What do you mean Pansy? In case you forgot, the Zabinis were neutral for most of the war. And after we had to take a side, we chose Harry's and the rest of the Light. And it's not like I picked her up of the street and made her family. We were born from the same mother and father. We're twins for Morgana's sake Pansy. And I am certainly not about to let her go now that I know who she is," he said icily.

She gave him an extremely dirty look. "Oh please. As if you were light. You just as much about blood status as the rest of us. We all heard you in the past. We know what your views on the subject are," she said, sceptical of his words.

He scoffed. "So because I said something about it once in sixth year, you are planning on holding it against me? Sure, I believed in the views, as much as I believed in several other things. But Pansy, things change. There was a bloody war for Merlin's sake. People _died!_ They died because of the ideals of one person. So excuse me if I decide that something like that shouldn't happen again," he stated calmly.

She sputtered at this, "But Blaise," she whined. "It's always been you, me, and Draco."

Theodore looked disgruntled at this. "So what am I then? Last time I checked, I was there all those other times as well Pansy. Just because you insist on whining because Blaise and Draco have found someone worth spending their time on, doesn't mean that we care to hear about it. Why can't you go find one of your little minions to go complain to?"

Blaise smirked at this. That bloody bastard. He looked so smug at her being put in her place. Ugh, she would make sure he paid the price for his indecency. They all would pay, just watch.

* * *

Blaise watched as Pansy gave one last huff she trotted up the stairs like the drama queen she was.

"Good riddance!" he said, glad that she had left them.

Theo burst into laughter. "You should have heard her on the train. She kept complaining how the '_mudblood_' needs to be put in her proper place for stealing her '_Drakie-Poo_' from her. It was like listening to the same thing over and over again. I thought she was even going to burst at one point from her rambling."

Blaise shook his head. Someone needed to get this girl into the new age. It would be harder for her if she kept her ways and kept up with her antics. Sooner or later she would get into trouble for her behaviour.

Goyle chose that moment to come over.

"Oh thank Merlin. I thought she would never leave," Goyle exclaimed. He laughed nervously at the awkwardness he had felt. After the war and the death of Crabbe, he had become softer and lost most of the views he had on superiority. It didn't help that his father had fled, leaving him and his mother alone. Since the two of them were not technically Death Eaters, they had gotten off from Azkaban.

"Scared of Pansy, Goyle?" Theo asked with a smirk on his face.

Theodore Nott was a completely different story. His father, while older than Lucius, was never in as good of graces as he. Which drove him to push his son further and further into the ranks , trying to please Voldemort. Of course, as Draco, this had backfired and caused him to trade sides in the midst of the war. He had also been responsible for one of the Order's largest ambushes on the Death Eaters. His father was now rotting away in Azkaban as the rest of them were.

Goyle shuddered. "She hexed me on the train after she left from the Prefects meeting. She was so angry she didn't even bother to look at me after. She just walked past in a rage, hexing everything in her sight. Part of me thought she would turn back there and send another one in my direction," he said in a low voice.

This caused the other boys to burst into laughter, while Goyle glared at the lot of them.

Blaise sighed. "I have no idea what he obsession with poor Draco is. I mean sure, he's hot. I mean most of the female population thinks so. But she needs to bring it down a notch. It's not like Hermione is even a threat to her at the moment," he said, feeling annoyed at the girl.

Theodore let out a low whistle. "I don't know mate, I mean your sister has a nice body."

Blaise glowered at him. "She's my sister you pig!" he said disgustedly.

Theo looked nonchalant. "Doesn't matter to me, not my sister. I'm just saying, I'd definitely hit that, repeatedly, if you know what I mean," he said, his eyes twinkling at the thought of a new conquest in mind.

Blaise felt beyond angry at this. "Touch. My. Sister. And you will. Die." He hissed out, furious at the thought of someone defiling his baby sister.

Theo smirked. "No problem mate. I won't touch her while you're around. And I'll make sure that no one finds out once I do manage to convince her to let me into that tight skirt of hers."

Blaise stood up, and did something completely muggle; he threw a right hooked punch at Theo, hitting him square in the face. He fell back on the couch, having it cushion him from falling off from the momentum of the fall.

He stood up and held his hand over the area where Blaise had made contact with his face. The area had turned a bright, vibrant red from the impact. It looked like it would bruise if not treated with magic.

"Oops," Blaise said cooly, shaking his hand that he used for the punch. He let out a slight wince, realising why he never resorted to punches in the past.

"What the hell man?" Theodore said, while heavily wincing from pain.

"Do not ever touch my little sister. If I find out that you so much as look at her the wrong way, then I will personally make sure that worse is done to you. And I can assure you that Draco will not be sympathetic. He will gladly do twice the damage that I do to you," Blaise threatened.

Theo, obviously taking the warning seriously, turned around and stalked off to his room.

Sighing, Blaise packed up his stuff. He knew that it was time for him to turn in for the night. Nothing good would come if he went up and cursed Theo, as he knew he so desperately wished to do.

Meanwhile, Goyle who remained behind watching the entire exchange, seemed completely confused about the entire thing.

* * *

Hermione tossed and turned. She was in a state close into slipping into the realm of sleep but not completely there yet.

"_Wait," Bellatrix told the Malfoys. "Take them all, but leave the Mudblood."_

_Hermione shuddered under the weight of the arm grasping her. _

"_No! Take me! Take me and leave her," Ron shouted out._

_She laughed cruelly. "Eager aren't we? Trust me Blood Traitor. If she dies from the questioning, then I assure you that you will be next in line," she spat out at him._

_Reaching under her robes, she grabbed a small silver knife. Using it, she cut Hermione free from the bonds that kept her with both Harry and Ron._

_As Greyback took the rest of them to the dungeon, she heard him sneer, "Think she'll let me get in a good taste of her once she's done?" _

_Hermione shook at the thought of him digging his teeth deep into her skin. _

_She looked up and saw Draco watching from the edge of the room. The boy was frozen in place, looking conflicted about what he should do._

"_Where did you get the sword?" Bellatrix asked while twirling the knife between her fingers._

"_We found it! It was in Snape's office and we got it from there," Hermione said, thinking of the first lie she could think of._

"_Liar," Bellatrix yelled out. "I'm going to ask you again. Where did you get the sword, you filthy little mudblood?"_

_Hermione tried again, "I swear! I'm telling the truth."_

"_Stop lying! I need to teach you to speak the truth to your superiors. Crucio!" she yelled with fury._

_Hermione felt herself wither under the pain. "Stop, please, stop," she whimpered._

"_You are a lying filthy little mudblood. Speak the truth. I know you went into my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth. Tell the truth!"_

_Hermione felt another scream escape her throat. The pain was unbearable. She couldn't take it much longer. _

"_What else did you take mudblood? What else did you take from my vault? Tell the truth or I swear that I will run you through with this knife."_

"_N-Nothing," Hermione whispered as she whimpered._

"_Crucio!" Bella yelled out again. But this time Hermione found herself falling into a deep pit of blackness from the pain._

She woke up screaming, with tears running down her face. Draco was in her room, holding her gently in a hug. He pulled her tight into his chest and let her cry away her tears.

"Shh Hermione. It's okay. It was just a dream. You're safe; she can't hurt you know," Draco said softly. She sat there, crying for a little while longer.

"I'm sorry," she said once the tears came to a halt. "I've woken you from your sleep because of my stupid dreams."

He looked shocked at this. "Hermione, it wasn't your fault that you have dreams haunting you from the war. Everyone heals at a different pace, and what you had to experience through the war was an experience that left you broken. You just need time Hermione," he told her gently.

She stayed in his arms, not moving from his warmth and his comfort. "I don't want them anymore. The pain is too much, it hurts too much!" she cried. "I don't want to remember it anymore, and every night I'm stuck reliving the events over and over again."

He held her tighter. "Sometimes we need to come to terms with what happened for it to end," he told her.

She said nothing. Draco looked at her and saw that she had fallen asleep against his chest. He stayed like that for a couple more moments to allow her to fall into a deeper sleep. Once he was content that she would not awake, he placed her on the bed. He left her door open in case she had anymore nightmares, and retreated to his chamber.


	13. The First Morning

**A/N: **Just a quick note. Characters that J. K. Rowling killed off may or may not be dead in this series.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

Hermione woke up to the sound of her wand ringing; feeling a bit sore from her previous tossing and turning from her nightmare. But luckily for her, she had managed to get in a good amount of sleep. Thanks to Draco comforting her, there were no more nightmares.

As she rolled over, she saw that it was 6:30 in the morning. It was the time she normally got up during the school year. However, she couldn't help but feel like going back under the covers and sleeping for a couple more hours until the sun was at least up. It was far too dark for her liking. She had gotten into the habit of sleeping in over the break, and it would take her a while to get out of it. Hopefully it would be sooner over later.

She made her way towards the bathroom to begin getting ready for the morning. Once she managed to tiredly stumble her way over, she found that it was otherwise occupied. She and Draco shared a bathroom so she assumed that he must have been in there.

She knocked on the door, "Draco, how much longer do you need?" she called out to him.

A hasty voice replied back, "Not too much longer Hermione. Just a couple more minutes," he said from inside the bathroom. She waited outside the door for him to finish up.

After a few minutes, the door opened and Hermione found herself staring at Draco Malfoy's naked chest. He still had a couple of water droplets scattered among his nicely toned chest and arms. She found herself trying to pry her eyes away from his body, which was only covered by a small towel around his legs. He was definitely good looking. To say that he wasn't would be an enormous understatement and a huge insult to the man who stood in front of her.

To her great thankfulness, he hadn't caught her staring at him. Merlin, if he did, it would be beyond embarrassing. What would she say to him, "Uh sorry you caught me staring, but I can't help that you have an amazing body?" Draco had a large enough of an ego to begin with, and she did not need to inflate it any further than it already was.

He gave her a smile, "All yours Hermione. Take your time, breakfast isn't for another hour or so," he said sweetly to her.

She felt herself smile back at him as she looked into his grey eyes, "Thanks," she said. "And thank you for last night," she told him genuinely.

He looked concerned. "Did you sleep well afterwards?" he asked her.

She nodded. "I didn't wake up until this morning. Thankfully there were no more nightmares," she said.

"Are you going to tell Potter or Blaise about this?" he questioned.

She shook her head rapidly. "No. They would only worry more if I did. I would rather just be able to get them to stop on my own without worrying them about it."

He gave her a deep look for a couple of moments. Once he realised that there would be no changing his mind, he sighed.

"Alright, but if they get worse, I'm going to tell them myself Hermione," he said dejectedly.

She gave him a smile. Hermione knew that he was only looking out for her and for her sanity, but no one should be worrying about it. They would all drive themselves crazy with guilt, and that was the last thing that she wanted to do with them.

"Okay," she said to soothe him.

He walked back into his room, while she entered the bathroom and prepared for her first day.

* * *

Hermione and Draco exited their room together. They decided that since they were both going down to breakfast, that they might as well go down together. It didn't bother Hermione of course. While in the past she would have gone out of her way to avoid him, now she didn't mind his presence.

"So what are you taking then Hermione?" Draco asked as they stepped onto one of the moving staircases, which was thankfully stationary at the moment.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Study of Ancient Runes, and History of Magic," she told him.

He looked a bit surprised at this. "You're taking seven courses?" he asked her stunned. Most seventh years only took about five or six.

They walked past several pictures that were ranting on to each other about some of the latest house gossip. Hermione had long stopped listening to it, for they were almost always rumours, and she just couldn't care about them.

"I wanted to be able to have courses to spare in case I change my mind in the future," she said worriedly. Her future was a topic that she always feared. What happened if she failed miserably because she didn't have a course she needed? She knew it was irrational, but she couldn't help but worry about it nonetheless.

He laughed. "I expect no less from you," he teased. "You would take all of those subjects. Besides, no one even pays attention in History of Magic anyway. People use that class as a time to catch up on sleep. The _Ravenclaws_ use that as a chance to catch up on sleep."

She huffed. "I know! And it's such an important class after all. I have no idea what's wrong with these people. But what are you taking?"

"The same, minus the History of Magic, I figure for sleeping through that class I can sleep in my own bed," he teased.

"Very funny," she said with a look of displeasure.

He laughed again as they entered the Great Hall. Draco went his way to sit by Blaise and the other Slytherins as Hermione sat by her fellow Gryffindors.

"Hey Hermione," Ginny greeted her with a smile. She grabbed her orange juice and took a sip from the goblet in front of her.

"Morning Ginny," Hermione said as she reached for a bagel and some cheese.

"What's your new room like?" Ginny asked her. "Is it wonderfully large?"

"It's amazing," she said truthfully. "There's so much space for just the two of us."

"You're so lucky," the ginger girl said enviously. "I would love to have a room that large.

"Why don't you sleep over after this week's classes?" Hermione asked her friend.

Ginny's face immediately lit up. "Oh Hermione, that would be amazing. Are you sure Draco wouldn't mind though?"

Hermione looked thoughtful. "I doubt he would care, but I can always ask him and make sure."

Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown walked in and sat across from Hermione and Ginny.

"Hermione do tell us," Parvati gushed. "How has your new life been?"

Hermione looked at the pair confused. "What do you mean?"

They looked impatient. "Duh, do you live in a manor, do you have a lot of clothes, is Draco Malfoy your boyfriend, what are the Zabinis like," the both asked, one after the other.

"Well, my house is a manor and it is rather large I suppose. And I do assume that I have a lot of clothes that my mum picked out for me," Hermione told the two of them

Lavender gushed at this. "And Draco Malfoy? What's he like? Have you seen him naked yet? I mean you are sharing a dorm room," she pried eagerly.

"He's well," she paused. She felt herself start to blush as she thought of the incidents of the morning; although he wasn't exactly naked. "He's changed a lot since the war. He's passionate and caring. He's very intelligent and fun to have an intellectual conversation with," she said truthfully, trying not to say too much.

Parvati looked impatient. "But is he your boyfriend? And more importantly, have you seen him naked?"

"He's just a friend at this moment. And NO, I have not seen him naked, nor do I plan to," she said pointedly to the two gossips. Although he was half-naked, telling that much to them would be like telling the entire school. And while nothing had happened, she still preferred that the entire Hogwarts population didn't find out.

They looked disappointed, and as Hermione looked over at Ginny, she saw a similar look on her face. The gossips said their good byes and headed off to find out more gossip.

"So nothing happened?" Ginny asked curiously. "I mean the Slytherin Prince is your roommate and you have no good stories?"

"Well, a few things happened," Hermione confessed once Lavender and Parvati were out of sight.

Ginny squealed. "Hermione you have to tell me!" she practically yelled out.

"Well last night I had a nightmare," Hermione said and saw Ginny's face fill with worry. "Don't worry about it though Gin. But he came into my room to check on me and see if I was alright. And he sat on my bed, holding me until I stopped crying, and let me fall asleep in his arms."

Ginny's eyes widened. "Was he with you all night?" she asked her, while taking her word for the nightmares being irrelevant.

"I'm not sure how long he stayed, but he was gone by the morning," Hermione told her friend.

"And what else happened?" Ginny asked her.

"Well this morning, when he got out of the shower, he was wearing nothing but a towel. There were water drops on his body Ginny! I've never been one to notice such things, but I couldn't turn away from him. He was just so muscular and so well built," she said with a blush.

Ginny gave her a wide grin. "I think you have a crush on Draco Malfoy."

Hermione looked at her in shock. "What? No! I do _not_ think of him that way. He's my brother's best friend, and now I stopped seeing him as an arrogant prick and as a decent human being. But there is no way I see him any other way," she said tensely.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Alright then 'Mione. You don't like him. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Ginny asked sarcastically.

She nodded. "Yup; besides, I already knew I didn't feel for him that way. But thanks for reinforcing my belief that I didn't."

Ginny shook her head and returned to the eggs on her plate. "Whatever you say."

Harry and Ron walked in, and Harry took his spot beside his girlfriend. Ron however, chose to sit as far away from her as he could possibly, while still sitting near Harry. He immediately engaged in a conversation with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan about some Quidditch game that had occurred over the break.

She tried to catch his eye, or even get a sense whether he was still angry or not. But he chose to simply not look her way. So he was still mad at her.

She felt anger rush through her. He had no right to stay angry at her because of who her family was. But she knew better than to act upon her anger. After all, she was Head Girl. And starting an argument in the Great Hall, on the first day of school, did not say responsible at all. The last thing she wanted was to have her new privileged revoked or even lose her position as Head Girl.

Harry saw her and leaned in closely. "I am sorry about him Hermione. Mrs. Weasley gave him an enormous lecture on his behaviour, but his stubbornness prevents him from apologising. But I know he wants to. He regrets what he did and he says it sometimes. I know you don't deserve this, and he deserves to apologise, but he will, just give him time," he told her.

Somehow Hermione doubted that he would. But she knew that she needed to keep an open mind. With any luck he would try and apologise and things would be able to go back to how they were.

The bell rang at that moment, causing the students to go off to where they needed to be. Hermione stood up and joined Blaise and Draco to go get their schedules for the year from Professor McGonagall.


	14. Beginning of the Persistence

**Chapter 14**

Hermione waited for McGonagall to finish talking to Zacharias Smith about his time table so she could get her own. Draco and Blaise had managed to get theirs already and were pleased to have a considerable amount of classes together.

As the professor finished with him, she turned to Hermione. "Ah, Miss Zabini, nice to see you this morning," she greeted her.

Hermione smiled at her, "Good morning to you Professor."

"I've been meaning to talk to about your courses. As it is right now, you have your options wide open so you can go into whatever field you choose. But because of the advanced program that we are offering you, we also need an idea of where you want to go into so we can incorporate that into your curriculum," she told her.

Hermione sighed. She knew she couldn't avoid this forever. She had a general idea of what she wished to do, but was worried that she might not like it. Well, worst come to worst, she can always go back and change her mind. "I think I may want to go into Law Enforcement," she told her professor.

Minerva clapped her hands together. "I was hoping you would say that. You would make an excellent addition to their ranks! Now that it is settled, I can begin to incorporate that into your schedule as well."

Smiling, Hermione walked over to Draco and Blaise where the three of them compared their schedules. To Hermione and Draco's pleasure, they had the six courses that they were both taking in common, and Draco had the morning to sleep while Hermione attended History of Magic.

As the three walked into their potions class, she saw that Ron and Harry were already there sitting by each other. Harry smiled at her, whereas Ron just turned the other direction. She smiled back at him.

"Ah Miss Zabini," Professor Slughorn greeted. "You and Mr. Malfoy sit down over there," he said, gesturing to an empty seat in the middle of the room. "Mr. Zabini, please sit by Miss Greengrass."

Hermione and Draco took their seats and Hermione turned to see Blaise go red as he sat beside the witch. She smiled, thinking how happy he must be to sit beside her. As she returned her gaze, she noticed Ron glaring at the two of them. She rolled her eyes at how childish he was being.

* * *

"How many times have you read the textbook for this class Hermione?" Draco asked her teasingly, as he got out his books and quills. He was rather looking forward to getting to sit near her in this class. It meant that they would have more excuses to be together. Not that they didn't already have enough reasons to meet up.

"What makes you think I've read them?" she asked him. "For all you know, I might not have read them even once."

"Well, you're Hermione Granger. You've had to have read the textbooks before school started," he told her matter-of-factly.

She sighed defeated. "Only twice," she said sadly. "There was just so much going on this summer and I didn't have time to read it any more than that."

He laughed at that. "Of course. It's a shame really, that you couldn't read it any more than that. I'm not sure how you're going to fare in your classes now," he teased.

She took his words seriously. "I know. I might not be able to get good marks in the NEWTs this year."

Before he could make a retort, Theodore Nott walked up to her. "Hello Hermione, how are you this morning?" he asked.

She looked a bit confused. "I'm good thanks, and you?" she asked him politely.

He gave her a grin. "Rather great this morning. Hey Hermione, I haven't exactly gotten to know you well these last few years. What do you say that you and I get together some time to get to know each other better?" He asked as he stroked her hand.

Blaise and Draco were glaring at him, as Hermione pulled her hand away slightly so it wasn't touching his anymore.

"I don't know Theodore. This is NEWT year, I'm not sure how much time I'll have this year. Maybe some other time?" she said nicely.

He looked more persistent. "I'm sure I can persuade you to allow us to have a bit of personal time. It's not like you need to study all the time," he said forcefully.

Draco growled. "You heard her Nott. She doesn't want to get together with you. Now back off before I make you," he said angrily. He knew exactly what was running through his mind and Draco did not like it one bit,

Theo sneered at him. "Oh yeah, Malfoy? And what are you going to do to me? Knowing you, in a fight you would just run the other direction. Better yet, you would probably just switch sides. Because that's all you do you traitor. You desert what your entire family believes in like the coward you are. Now go away, me and Zabini here are setting up a date."

Hermione had never seen Draco look so furious. "Theodore Nott, I am Head Boy. Now if you don't stop harassing the Head Girl, then I will personally make sure you have detention tonight," Draco seethed.

"I'm not harassing her unless she says I am, isn't that right sweetheart," Theo said with a smirk.

Hermione squirmed. "Mr. Nott, I would prefer if you would return to you seat," she said diplomatically.

Draco flashed Theodore a smile. "You heard the girl Nott. Now either you run back to your seat like a good boy, or I will give you detention for a week."

Theodore huffed. "You win this time Malfoy. But just know this. I do not give up easily, and when I see something I want, I take it. And I always get what I want."

He stalked off back to his seat. Hermione looked extremely uncomfortable, and Draco wrapped an arm around her protectively, in a friendly manner.

She gave him a smile. "Thanks Draco. I don't know what I would have agreed to if you weren't here to make him leave," she said.

"You could have said no," he pointed out.

"Yes, but he doesn't exactly seem to accept no for an answer now does he?" she asked.

Draco had to give her that. Theo had a reputation for being with many girls and then throwing them out after they were done. And Hermione most certainly did not deserve that. She deserved to be placed on a pedestal and treated like a queen. And Theo most certainly would not give her what she deserved.

As the bell went off, Slughorn stood in the front of the class. "Welcome to seventh year Potions. You will be sitting next to your assigned partner all year, and they will serve as your partner when we are brewing potions. I assume by now you all know the drill, so it's time to get started. Today we will brewing a memory potion. Now who can tell me what this does?" He asked, looking immediately to where Hermione was.

Sure enough, she raised her hand to answer the question. "The potion allows the drinker to further increase the ability to access their memories," Hermione said in a tone of knowledge.

"Very good Miss Zabini," he stated happily. "Ten points to Gryffindor."

"And what may cause one to use this potion?" he asked again.

While Hermione raised her hand again, this time Draco beat her to it. "It can be used in certain fields to training to improve one's ability to perceive a fact based on a memory. An example of this would be in the Auror department where they need to recall a memory to make a connection to an important detail in a case," he told the professor.

Hermione smiled at his answer and he gave her a smile back.

"Excellent! Ten points to Slytherin," he beamed at him.

He looked over to where Potter and Weasel were. While Potter had been writing down his notes furiously and quickly, Weasley had been sitting there glaring at the two of them. He merely shook his head. If that boy wanted to get back into Hermione's good graces any time soon, then he would have to stop his fool hardy actions. Just by spending the summer with her he knew that if there was one this Hermione hated, it was people acting like a prat for something she couldn't control.

* * *

Blaise and Hermione decided to take a walk on the grounds to spend some time together without any other company. While both of them liked spending time with their friends, they wanted to have some quality sibling time together. As they passed by the Black Lake, Blaise spoke.

"How were your classes today 'Mione," Blaise inquired.

She gave him a smile. "They were great! I forgot how much I missed Hogwarts last year. I'm so glad to be back to learning!" she said excitedly.

Blaise laughed. "I swear, you are so like our mum at times," he shook his head. "I think she is relieved to have you back. After all, she could only nag me to study so many times. You have no idea how many lectures I got for being third in our year. She was furious that I wasn't first like her!"

Hermione laughed. "Well Draco and I are rather hard to compete with," she teased. "Besides, you hate reading," she said pouting. It was beyond her how people could possibly have a dislike for books.

He rolled his eyes. "Please. Books are for nerds like you and Draco. I'd rather play Quidditch than study."

Hermione gave him a glare. "Draco likes to read and he plays Quidditch," she pointed out.

"Yes, but Draco Malfoy is one odd child," he said to her.

Hermione giggled. "Wait till I tell him that tonight," she said. "I'm sure he would love to know what his best mate really thinks of him." As the said that, the two of them sat down under a tree.

He faked mock horror. "Oh no 'Mione! Please don't tell him. I swear, I'll do anything!" he pleaded.

"Hmm, I could use this to my advantage," she said scheming, while giving him an evil look.

"See, you so should have gotten sorted into Slytherin," Blaise teased.

Hermione remembered the question she had been meaning to ask him all week. "Blaise!" she exclaimed.

He looked at her strangely. "Yes?" he asked warily.

"Do you like Daphne Greengrass?" she asked her brother.

He looked squeamish, "Well she's a good friend of mine," he said, avoiding the subject.

"Yes, but do you like her as more than just a friend," she persisted.

He looked conflicted for a couple of moments before giving in. "If I answer this, you have to keep this between the two of us," he said hesitantly. Once she nodded with compliance, he continued. "Yes. I have feelings for her, and I have no idea what to do whatsoever," he confided in his sister.

She gave him a big smile. "Ask her out," she demanded.

His eyes widened. "I don't even know if she likes me, and you want me to ask her out? Seriously Hermione. I don't know how much relationship experience you have, but that is _not _what I do," he told her.

"What, the Great Blaise Zabini is scared of asking out a girl?" she retorted. Once she saw his expression, she knew that he was serious.

"Ask her out. She'll say yes. Trust me, she likes you," she told him.

"How do you know?" Blaise asked her sceptically.

"Because I am a girl. I know these things," Hermione told him.

* * *

"Then how do you not see the swarms of guys who want you?" Blaise thought to himself. But to be honest, he was glad that his little sister didn't know. It made chasing the guys who were not good for her away. The last thing he wanted was her to be used by some idiot.

He nearly wanted to punch Theo out after the stunt he pulled in class. But he knew better than that. However, if he touched one hair on her head, then he wouldn't hesitated in punching him out.

"Did I ever mention how happy I was to have you back in my life?" he asked her while bringing her into a tight hug.


	15. Pondering Feelings of Confusion

**Chapter 15**

It had been a month since their classes started. The hot summer weather began to fade into a cool oblivion. Leaves began to change colours into the Gryffindor colours, and the Whomping Willow shed its leaves in one go. Students began wearing their thicker robes around the castle grounds and on their Hogsmeade journeys.

In the Head's room, two girls occupied the large bed of the Head Girl. They were wrapped warmly in their night clothes and flipped through some of the latest witch gossip magazines.

Hermione rolled her eyes as she flipped the page. "I don't know why I bother reading these things. They are filled with useless lies anyways," Hermione complained.

On the page before her, was a picture of Hermione and Harry shopping in Hogsmeade the weekend before. The article on the left of the picture claimed that they were together on a date. It was absolutely absurd. Everyone knew that Harry was with Ginny and Hermione was like his sister. In reality she went with him to help pick out a present for Ginny. Harry was absolutely clueless when it came to these sorts of things and very often needed her help in the matter.

Ginny just shrugged at the article. It had long stopped bothering her friend when Ginny's boyfriend was paired with her best friend. Hermione was glad that she didn't take any of it seriously. If the ginger was as mistrusting as some of the girls at Hogwarts, then Hermione would have long lost her friend to the lies of the media.

"Oh look at this one!" Ginny exclaimed as she pointed to an article in the magazine she had been flipping through.

The title read "Slytherin Prince shacks it up with Gryffindor Princess". The picture had been taken later that same day. Professor McGonagall had asked the two of them to patrol the streets as a part of their Head Duties and they had gladly obliged. In the past Blaise was always with them, but that day he had gone out with someone else. While Hermione had a good idea about who it was, she didn't push her brother into giving her all the details. He would tell her once he was ready.

Ginny raised her eyebrow as she looked at Hermione. "So?" she asked her friend simply.

Hermione looked at her strangely. "So what?" she asked, confused about the one word question her friend was giving her.

Ginny looked exasperated. "Is there any truth to this story Hermione?" she asked her friend curiously.

Hermione attempted to explain the part of them being together for their duties, when Ginny cut her off from talking.

"Hermione," she said with a groan. "I obviously knew _that_!" she exclaimed with a tone of annoyance.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Then why did you ask? Seriously, you ask a question then you don't like the answer."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Hermione. I was asking if there was anything going on between the two of you," she spelled out for her friend.

Hermione's eyes widened with recognition and she turned her back to her friend while flipping through a new magazine. "We're not together," she told her friend, while trying to act completely disinterested in the subject.

Ginny wasn't about to give in so easily. "But then do you like him?" she asked inquisitively.

Hermione turned back over and faced her friend. "Of course. He's my friend," Hermione told her, using the same technique her brother had a short while ago. She hopped it would be enough for Ginny to drop the subject and prevent from venturing into it once more.

Ginny glared at her. "You know that was obviously not what I meant Hermione. Do you have feelings for Draco Malfoy; feelings of love and passion? Do you wish to jump his bones every time you see him and snog him senseless?" Ginny asked in plain English.

Hermione gaped at her. "Ginevra Weasley! You have been reading far too many romance novels for your own good!" Hermione exclaimed, feeling a bit amused by her friend's vocabulary, but also a slight bit violated.

Ginny laughed. "Come on Hermione. Answer the question," she said teasingly.

Hermione sighed and buried her face into the pillow. "I do," she said muffledly.

Ginny squealed. "You do? Explain now." She demanded. "Tell me everything and anything on the subject."

Hermione blushed a bit about the thought of it. "I don't know when they started. I think on some level I was always attracted to him, but him being a huge git for the last seven years turned me off completely. But then something changed this year. It was like he was a whole different person. At first I thought it was simply because I was now a pureblood, but I saw the way that he treated other muggle-borns and half-bloods. He's really changed Ginny. And some nights we have the best intellectual discussions on everything and anything; from literature to the latest paper published. It's like every time I see him and talk to him, a part of me lights up and when he leaves a part of me crumbles. I don't know how else to describe it though Gin," she confessed, opening up to the friend who she had shared most feminine matters with for all her witch life.

Ginny lit up at her statement. "I know exactly what you mean! It's how I feel with Harry," she said happily. Turning her attention back to the matter at hand, she continued. "Have you done anything about it?" she asked her friend.

Hermione shook her head fervently. "No he doesn't. Nor do I plan on telling him," she said rushed.

Ginny started to protest. "Why not Hermione? You obviously like him and I know that he cares for you. After all, he has spent a lot of time hanging out with you and Blaise."

Hermione nodded. "Exactly. He sees me simply as his best friend's sister. I am nothing more to him that than Ginny, and I doubt I'll ever be," she said sadly.

Ginny began to protest. "Hermione, you are the most beautiful girl at this school. You are intelligent beyond comparison and your personality is one that is rare and valued. Trust me when I saw that Draco has feelings for you."

And so the two friends began a heated argument, resulting in Ginny giving up in convincing a stubborn Hermione to act upon her feelings for a pale blonde boy. But unknown to the two of them, the same boy sat on his bed a few feet away from them. This boy was in deep thought on how to act upon the great deal of feelings he felt for Hermione and how he should proceed. For he knew he was walking upon a thin rope and one wrong move could cause him to crash any moment to his ultimate peril.

* * *

Around the same time, a group of boys sat around their room in the Gryffindor tower. These boys passed around the various candies that they had acquired from their latest venture into Hogsmeade while discussing the latest events in their lives.

Seamus lay on his bed in a very serious train of thought as he stared upon the ceiling above him. The usually loud boy's actions did not go unnoticed to his other roommates.

"Seamus," Dean called out to him.

When Seamus continued to stare upwards, Dean called out again, but this time more louder and assertive. "Seamus!"

This got the Scottish boy's attention. "What?" he said as he snapped his head in the direction of the calling.

"Mate, you've been zoned out for the last fifteen minutes. You didn't even comment when Ron finished your new pack of Sugar Quills," Dean exclaimed. It was not like him to be unresponsive to the youngest male Weasley pigging out on his possesions.

Seamus just shrugged. "I've had a lot on my mind I suppose," he said with his Scottish accent.

Harry looked concerned about this while Ron finished a Chocolate Frog. "What about mate?" he asked his friend.

"Have you guys noticed how pretty Hermione has gotten since she came back this year? I mean don't get me wrong, I've always thought she was beautiful, but something amazing has happened over the summer. I mean obviously she had the change when the spell was removed off her, but there's something else. It's like she's more confident in herself, that she's more strong in her emotions," he told the lot.

Harry and Ron gawked at him. "Our Hermione?" they exclaimed in unison.

Seamus looked at them in confusion. "Do either of you know any other Hermiones?" he asked them sarcastically.

They both shook their heads.

Seamus turned to Harry, "Harry, you probably know her the best out of all the people here right now right?" he asked him.

Ron gave him an angry look. "Oi, what am I then, chopped liver?" he retorted.

Seamus raised his eyebrows. "I was under the impression that the two of you weren't on talking terms because of your latest screw up on what to say to a lady," he said back.

Ron grumbled and turned his attention back to his sugar while Dean broke out into laughter. When Ron shot him a dirty look, he merely shrugged with a smirk plastered upon his face.

Harry gave him a wary look. "I suppose I do. What is your question then?" he asked him.

"Do you think Hermione would go out with me?" he asked nervously.

Harry's eyes widened. "What did you say?" he demanded, wanting to know the intentions behind his mate dating his sister.

Seamus looked flustered. "It's not like I only want to date her because she got hot over the summer, I swear!" he said solemnly and nervously.

Harry relaxed. "Go on then," he told him, allowing him to proceed.

"Well it's just that I always thought she was a cute witch from our first year, but I was always too afraid to act upon it. But last year we went through a war and it taught me that if I want love then I shouldn't just wait around for it to happen, for it might be far too late to do anything about it. So I've decided that I want to take that leap, and if she likes me then hopefully she'll agree to date me," he said feeling frightened at the thought of having to actually tell Hermione.

Dean looked at him. "I was under the impression that she was with Malfoy though?" he asked, sceptical about the gossip that had been circling the grounds recently.

Seamus looked at Harry alarmed and Ron looked up in rage.

Harry looked thoughtful on this. "Well I don't know if she actually is with him, but based on the amount of time they spend together, they can't merely be friends. But if you want then I can ask her about her relationship status tomorrow. Ginny and she are sleeping over tonight so I could ask her as well."

Seamus looked like a hopefully puppy at his suggestion. "Merlin let her be single," he prayed. He and Dean then began to discuss the bird (A/N: just in case you didn't know, it is a term to describe a girl) that he had taken a fancy to.

Ron turned to Harry. "She cannot be with that ferret can she? After all she's done to betray me already, she cannot sink any lower," Ron threatened.

Harry glared at his friend. "Ron she has in no way betrayed you. You two had a mutual break up did you not, because you both decided you were better off as friends?" he asked his friend.

"Yes," Ron said grudgingly.

"And the two of you stayed friends after that?"

"Yes."

"So why does it bother you that she's adopted? Does it really matter to _you_ that the people who raised her aren't her real parents?" he asked.

Ron shook his head. "It's not that she's adopted. It's that the people who are her parents are Death Eaters and it seems like everyone forgets about that."

"And what makes them Death Eaters?" Harry asked patiently.

Ron looked confused at this. "Well they must be right?" he asked.

Harry shook his head. "No they don't. Just because they are pureblood Slytherins do not make them Death Eaters. Hermione's mother was in fact a Gryffindor."

Ron looked even more confused. "But the war! They were fighting on-"

"Our side Ron, don't you remember? Her dad saved you from being attacked by Bellatrix," Harry explained. "It was just before she attempted to attack and kill Fred when he protected him as well."

Ron's eyes widened. "Merlin's trousers. That was Hermione's dad? I didn't even recognise the bloke."

Harry nodded. "And you know what this means?"

Ron looked down. "I owe Hermione an apology."

* * *

**A/N:** I am so sorry I could not update sooner. I was out all day getting things ready for a trip that I am taking tomorrow and as soon as I got home I wrote this chapter. I will post one more chapter tomorrow but I will be away for the next couple of days and will not be able to update. But I promise I will pick right back up where I stopped once I get back.


	16. To Stumble, To Meddle, and To Reunite

**Chapter 16**

Hermione woke up the next morning feeling groggy from her late night sleepover. Thankfully for her it was a Saturday so the only plans she had for herself was the library. She got out of the bed while being careful not to wake Ginny, who was on the other side. She tiptoed to the door and after opening it she stepped out, closing the door carefully behind her.

As she turned to walk towards the bathroom, she found herself walking face first into something. The two fell to the ground, resulting in Hermione being on top. It was still dark, but she was now able to tell what caused her to fall; Draco. She had walked into his fresh out of the shower body, resulting in her being on top of the close to naked boy. Her hands had fallen on his muscular arms and her face was inches from his. Hermione could smell the muskiness of the cologne that he was wearing, taking in the spicy smell. She looked into his eyes, startled at the impact of the fall.

"Good morning," she said, her face now full on red from embarrassment of her being so close to him. Thankfully he was wearing a towel. She could not fathom what she would have done if the same thing had happened minus the towel.

He was breathing heavily. "Morning Hermione," he said with a smile.

She found herself having difficulty breathing. It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. Between confessing her feelings to Ginny last night and being caught in this possession right now made it very hard for her to think straight; something that she was almost always able to do.

"Hermione?" he asked her, confused about what she was doing laying on top of him. His grey eyes looked right into hers softly, melting Hermione to butter.

"Y-Yeah?" she asked, stuttering. Oh Merlin, how she wished she could simply melt away to avoid the current situation she was now in. But the rebellious, illogical, quiet voice in her head, liked it. That part of her enjoyed being this close to the well-built blonde. And that scared her completely.

"Do you think you can get off me? As much as I love being under you, I do have a Quidditch practice to get to," he said, sounding almost regretful? She couldn't quite make out what the emotion of his voice was, as it was one that was hard to decipher given the current situation.

Hermione blushed again and mentally scolded herself for not getting off sooner. "Oh sorry!" she apologised and stood up hastily. He got up, careful to not let his towel slip or reveal anything that needed to stay hidden to protect the innocent girl's eyes.

"Thanks," he said, flashing her a bright smile.

She smiled back at him. "Have fun at your practice. You Slytherins have been training awfully hard," she told him. And it was true. Every single Saturday morning since tryouts they had been practicing to get in shape for the upcoming season.

"Well Blaise is a hard team captain to please. And all of us want to win the cup this year so we can have one up on Potter," he said teasingly.

"Harry is really good though, I doubt you can beat him," she smirked.

He looked playfully hurt, "Ouch Zabini, I love the faith you have in me and your brother," he pouted.

"What can I say? I only support the best," she said with a laugh.

He smiled at her warmly. "You are a true Gryffindor through and through aren't you?"

"Of course!" She exclaimed.

Draco looked like he wanted to respond with something but with a look on to the clock his face fell. "I'm sorry to cut your conversion to supporting Slytherin short, but I have a practice to run to," he said.

She smiled. "Go to your team, you guys need all the help you can get," she teased. He smirked one last time at her before running out the door to the field. She shook her head and turned around to head into the bathroom and get ready for the day.

* * *

Hermione plopped down on one side of Harry while Ginny took the other. The two girls reached hungrily for the food in front of them. She reached for a scone and a slice of bread which she stroked a slab of jelly on.

She noticed Ron's absences from the table but didn't comment on it. He was probably getting in an early morning snog with Lavender before breakfast.

She noticed Seamus and Harry have a silent exchange. Such things were not uncommon with the boys in her house and she had long learned that it was a lot better to stay out of such things.

Harry coughed. "So Hermione, you know that you're a little sister to me right?" he asked her.

Hermione nodded her head slowly, unsure as to where this conversation was heading. "Yes, why?" she asked him.

"Well as a person who considers themselves to be an elder brother to you, you know you can tell me anything right?" he asked again, sounding almost cryptic.

"Yes Harry, I am aware," she said.

"And you would tell me if you were involved with anyone?" he asked her again.

She rolled her eyes. "Harry you know me by now I would think. If I was involved with someone then you would be the first person I told. And with that said, even if I hadn't told you right away, your girlfriend is rather skilled at detecting such matters. So if I hadn't told you then I am quite sure that she would tell you almost immediately."

Harry seemed content while Ginny snorted at the trueness of her statement. "So I take it that you aren't with anyone at the moment?" he asked her.

She shook her head impatiently. "No Harry. I am just as single as I've been so far all year."

Ginny smirked at this, thinking back to their exchange the night before. Hermione felt herself blush thinking about what had happened that morning, and knew that Ginny would want to know what happened as soon as they were alone. She would have told them before they left the room for breakfast, but her mind was still mentally processing what had happened while trying to figure out what exactly it had meant, if anything at all.

She noticed another silent exchange go on between the boys. Ginny had also noticed and the two of them quietly watched, trying to figure out what they were saying. It was hard to follow and neither of them were able to tell what the two of them were talking about per say. But one thing was visibly noticeable; Seamus was a lot brighter and happier after the exchange and immediately began to chat up Dean and Harry in some sort of Quidditch strategies, bragging about a new broom he gained for the upcoming season. Harry had allowed him on to the team as chaser since according to Harry he had improved greatly from their sixth year.

* * *

Half way through her breakfast, a very nervous Ron stumbled into the Great Hall. Hermione waited for him to pass by her as he always tended to do, and sit beside Harry. But to her uttermost surprise, he stopped right in front of where she was sitting. She turned around and looked at him square in the face to see what harsh thing he was planning on saying to her today.

"Well?" she asked expectantly. "What insult have you come to throw at me now?" she asked him warily.

He looked saddened by her words, which shocked her greatly.

"I was hoping we could talk in private Hermione," he said quietly. "Although, I completely understand if you don't want to ever talk to me ever again."

She rolled her eyes and walked out of the hall with Ron in a tow. As they reached an isolated corridor outside of the hall, she stopped and turned to face him.

"Well you have me out here. So what was so important that you had to say it out here?" she asked patiently.

He looked apologetic. "I wanted to say that I am completely sorry Hermione for everything that I have said to you," he said earnestly.

She looked up, surprised. She had not expected that from him. "What made you decide to apologise?" she asked, confused at how the stubborn boy so easily admitted his wrongdoings.

"After the war, I was left broken, as we all were. My mum has always kept us completely protected from the horrors of war, up to the point where fatality means very little to us. Her overprotectiveness allowed for us to be sheltered; we all grew up thinking that we were aseptic to death and harm. When Bill was attacked by Greyback in sixth year, it was the first time that I realised that it was a war, and that we could be harmed, just as easily as everyone else," he said softly.

Hermione stood there listening to him speak from his heart.

"But even with that, death still didn't seem possible to us. I still felt invincible, and like nothing could harm me or my family. That thought was almost broken that night at the Malfoy Manor, but since we escaped, I still had the belief in me."

"But Fred was almost killed during the battle, and thinking about that every day drove me crazy. I couldn't possible fathom a world where he didn't exist and I began to blame all of them for his near death experience. And somewhere along the guilt journey, the lines between Death Eater and Pure Blood blurred. All of a sudden, they all seemed just as responsible for it. And once I found out that your family are purebloods, I completely lost it. I began associating you with the image I had formulated in my head, and it filled me with extreme rage. It wasn't until Harry mentioned that it was your father who saved Fred from death that I realised that not all of them are guilty of a few people's mistakes," he said, pausing in between.

"And so, I need to apologise. But I understand if you find it hard to forgive me. All I ever do is completely screw up our friendship one way or another, and here you are, always forgiving me and my stupidity. And I know that asking for chances over and over again can make someone not want to trust. And I get that completely. So I'm going to let you figure out what you want to do. But thank you, for everything Hermione. And thank you for listening to me now," he finished.

Tears formed in Hermione's eyes as he concluded his emotional story. "Oh Ron," she sobbed as she flung herself in his arms. "Of course I forgive you, you idiot," she said, tears still streaming.

He looked stunned, but pulled her into his arms tightly. "Thank you 'Mione. I promise that I will attempt to stop screwing up all the time."

She laughed through her cries. "Good, I don't want to lose you Ron. You're like my brother. And while you may be the one that I fight the most with, I still enjoy having you in my life."

As they pulled out of the hug, he gave her a smile, while handing her a napkin. She whipped her face to fix up her tear stained face. "Ron, this war has been hard on all of us, so don't ever think you are alone. If you need to talk about it, then Harry and I are always here for you. Promise me you'll remember that?" she asked him.

He gave her a smile. "I promise. And 'Mione?" he asked her.

"Yes?"

"Promise me you'll do the same?" he asked her. "I know the war has been just as hard on you as well, and I want you to be able to talk to me if you ever need to."

"I promise," she said, returning his smile.

The two reunited friends walked back into the Great Hall. As they sat down beside Harry, he smiled at them. The Golden Trio had been reunited once more.

* * *

**A/N: **Just a quick reminder, I will not be posting for the next couple days. But I promise I will once I get back.


	17. To Misjudge and Let Down

**Chapter 17**

Hermione sat under on a bench outside of the castle. She had finished all of the homework for the next two weeks and had decided to use her free time reading the newest potions magazine. It was rather interesting for her, though many of her class mates would disagree. She loved reading into the world's newest inventions through potions. An article claimed that there was even almost a cure for the cruciatus curse to repair it's damage. Neville would love that.

For mid fall, the weather had gotten rather chilly. She wore her warm robes outside and had her red and gold scarf wrapped tightly around her neck to prevent catching a cold. While she knew that she could simply use an anti-cold potion if she got sick from Madam Pomfrey, but that required taking up time to go there and then spend the night, as the school healer was often keen on keeping her patients for the night. It seemed like a complete waste of time for her to spend it in the hospital wing when in reality all she would need is the potion and she could be on her way. So it was easier to prevent that from happening all together

She thought about the conversation she had with Ginny about Draco. Once she told her friend the week before, about bumping into a half-naked Draco, Ginny could not stop squealing. Her friend's reaction and need for details had gotten her thinking. Lately it seemed that everything she did somehow related back to him. There was very rarely a thought to cross her mind that did not in some way remind her somehow of Draco. She often found herself zoning out at the mention of something she related back to the blonde. Of course, no one had caught on, but she was worried that they would. But she had to admit, she loved all her encounters with him.

Like when she dropped her quill in class. Before she could even make the motion of bending down to receive it, he had already beaten her to it and placed it tenderly in her hand. She could still remember the rush of energy that flowed through her when his hand grazed hers. Or when he walked her to class and placed a peck of a kiss on her cheek. She tried to brush it off, saying it was a friendly notion. After all, Harry did the same thing. But there was something different about it. Like the feelings it contained were more than mere friendship, but also passion and a different kind of love.

But Hermione had no idea about what to make of it. She loved spending time with Draco, but never knew what he thought of her. She had pondered upon asking Blaise what Draco thought of her, but she knew that her brother would be far too protective to give her an answer. But she needed to know what he thought of her. Did he see her as merely a friend, or even worse, as his best mate's little sister? She hoped that it was not the case. There was not a fate worse when it came to relationships, than being thought of as the little sister. It basically meant that the man is question would never see you as anything more than that.

She sighed once more, thinking about how meaningless it was to like a guy. One thing people never warn you about is just how much it can take out of you to like a guy.

"Alright there Hermione?" a voice asked out from behind her.

Hermione jumped at the sound. She had not been expecting anyone out here and it caught her by surprise.

"Sorry to scare you," the male voice said once more. Hermione turned around to see Seamus Finnegan behind her. He looked rather nervous about something, but she wasn't quite sure what.

He had changed drastically after the war. His features had matured since the war, and his childish looks had long since vanished. He was now more muscular and lean. And he no longer looked the boy who constantly blew things up. His accent was as prominent as ever, due to the fact that he had spent his entire summer in Ireland visiting family after the war.

"It's alright," she said as she scooted over and gestured to the new space beside her, "Would you like to sit down?" she asked kindly. Normally she wasn't one for company when reading, but it never hurt to be polite, especially when the person had sought you out personally for something.

He gave her a smile. "Thanks," he said as he sat down beside her.

Seamus looked at her, with one of those looks of deep thought; as if he was trying to figure out how best to proceed. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something Hermione," Seamus said with a heavy nervousness.

She looked at him questioningly. "Sure Seamus, what's up?" she asked the Irish boy.

"Hermione, I don't know if anyone has ever told you, but you are beautiful. And I don't just mean now, I mean also when you had bushy hair and were paler than you are now. Hermione, I have had feelings for you since first year when you were the first person to levitate your feather, whereas I merely blew mine up. If you would do me the honour, would you go out with me?" he asked her, sounding completely breathless.

* * *

Draco walked out into the courtyard of the school. He had been looking for Hermione all day. He couldn't wait any longer; it was absolutely killing him to stay away any further. He had no idea how he managed all these years to not be with her.

Lately it seemed like Hermione was everywhere. And when he said everywhere, he meant everywhere. Where ever he looked, he saw Hermione; in the flowers, in his school books, in his mind. He thought about her all the time. How was someone so tiny and pure able to weasel their way into all of someone's thoughts? If Draco didn't know any better, then he would swear that she was a pure Slytherin.

He knew that she would be out here. She had once told him that when she had nothing better to do then she would grab a piece of literature and come out here and read to her heart's content. And he knew that she had to be more than her fair share of ahead in all of her classes.

His heart raced as he approached the brunette. He knew that today was the day to ask her out. It just felt right to him. But the closer he approached, the more sceptical he grew. There, sitting beside Hermione, was one of those pesky Gryffindors.

"Hermione, I have had feelings for you since first year when you were the first person to levitate your feather, whereas I merely blew mine up. If you would do me the honour, would you go out with me?" He heard the boy ask.

No! This was not how it was supposed to happen. Draco was supposed to get there first and be the one to ask her out. But now this stupid boy had gotten in the way and wrecked everything. Now he wouldn't be able to go out with Hermione because he knew that she would accept him. He was stupid to think that Hermione would ever want to go out with a guy like him; especially someone with such a dark past.

Why would she go out with him? Why would she when there was someone like him who fought on her side? Finnegan was the better match for her and he knew it. There was no way that he could even compare so it was better that he left before he had to watch any further. What point was there after all; when he knew that she would gladly accept someone like him and not give Draco the time of day. He was stupid to think that all of the time he had spent with her would have meant anything more than them being friends. She probably only saw him as her brother's best friend; someone to be nice to out of obligation.

He angrily stalked back off to his dorm, trying to not think about her in the arms of another man.

* * *

Hermione looked at Seamus speechless. She had no idea what to say in the slightest. Guys didn't often look at her in that manner and when they had it was often because they simply wanted help on their homework assignments; so through their false flattery, they hoped that they would win her over and she would get them good marks on their assignments. But she was no fool. She knew exactly what those boys wanted; after all, she wasn't the brightest witch of her age for nothing. She knew when people were sincere and when they weren't.

And using her knowledge and her experience, she knew that Seamus was being sincere. She knew by looking at him when he spoke, that he meant every word that he said. And to know that he truly cared for her when she felt no such emotion for him killed her. The selfless part of her wanted to throw herself into his arms and accept his love; it seemed so much better than hurting him. But she knew that by leading him on now he would only get hurt later on in the future. And she would be hurting herself. So now came the hard part.

But one thing now made sense to her. She finally understood the exchange between Harry and Seamus and what it was that they were talking about. And finally that strange conversation where he made no sense seemed to come together.

She looked into his eyes before speaking. "Seamus, I think you are an extremely great guy, and any witch would be absolutely lucky to have you in their lives loving them. But Seamus, I don't like you that way, and for that I am sorry," she said softly. She felt terrible for letting him down.

He looked down into his lap where his hands were intertwined. He gave her a sad smile before proceeding. "I get it Hermione. There's someone else isn't there?" he asked her, in a non-angry tone.

She debated lying about it and shaking her head, saying that it was merely because she didn't want a relationship. But didn't he deserve to know the truth at least now when she was rejecting him? He deserved that much from her and it was only fair that she should tell him.

"Yes," she said gently. "Seamus, I am really sorry. I wish I could be the one you need, but I'm not."

He gave her a sad smile. "Then you should tell him Hermione. Anyone who is lucky enough to be liked by you should be told of their honour. I want you to be happy with the guy that you care for. You deserve happiness too."

She gave him a smile, knowing that he was completely right. She gave him a hug and the pair parted ways. Hermione eagerly ran up the stairs to go and find Draco and tell him just how she felt. She couldn't hold it any longer and the more she went without being with him, the more agitated she felt. She reached the portrait door and allowed it to open. She was about to create her future.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm baaack! Did you guys miss me? I had a wonderful trip and it gave me a lot of time to think about my life and my future. But don't worry, it was nothing concerning this story. That will still be completed regardless.

**Update:** So I thought I posted this last night, but sadly I forgot to actually upload it.


	18. Misreadings

**Chapter 18**

Hermione walked into their shared common room after the portrait opened. Usually Draco sat in the room to do his homework, as he found that the library was far too crowded and that his room was far too isolated. But to her surprise, Draco was not in the room.

"That's strange," she murmured out loud. She wondered where he would be if not there. So she walked down the hallway towards Draco's room. Perhaps she would have better luck there. As she reached the room marked 'Head Boy' in a similar fashion to her own room, she knocked lightly on the door. When there was no answer, she turned to walk away. But then she heard it. There from the door, was a throaty moan coming from inside the room.

She opened the door to see Draco on top of some Hufflepuff in fifth year. His shirt was unbuttoned and his emerald and silver tie lay on the floor, crumpled up. His uniform pants were wrinkled up from the movements she assumed he had been making. The girl's shirt was bunched up around her upper body and Draco had his hands all over her. This was definitely_ not _what she was expecting to find.

Hermione felt her heart break into a million pieces. She knew that the phrase was completely clichéd, but at the instant it was the only words she could use to describe the dreadful emotion that she felt in her gut. Thankfully, neither of them had noticed her. She closed the door again quietly and ran. Hermione ran so fast out of the common room that one would think that Voldemort had risen and decided to chase her.

She ran until she saw Blaise. He and Daphne were in the middle of a heavy snogging session, not unlike what she just witnessed. As Blaise turned to look at her with annoyance for interrupting, he stopped abruptly when he saw the tears streaming heavily down her face.

"What's wrong?" he demanded her with concern. "Who made you cry like this?" he asked again, this time his voice so quiet and full of anger.

She wanted to say something. She opened her mouth to speak but the tears kept coming. It was like an endless train of tears that she just couldn't stop from falling.

Daphne looked at Blaise. "I'll leave you guys alone. Hermione looks like she needs you," she said tenderly.

Blaise went to nod when Hermione cut him off by shaking her head. "N-No Daphne. It's okay, you can stay if you like," she said, her voice shaking. She didn't want to make the girl who her brother had finally gotten with feel left out over her emotional state.

Daphne shot her a smile mixed with both sympathy and appreciation. "Hermione, what happened?" she asked her softly as she allowed Hermione to sit in between the couple. While Blaise wrapped his arm around her waist, Daphne placed a comforting hand on her arm.

"D-Draco," she sputtered out through a wobbly voice.

"What did he do to you?" Blaise said, his voice dangerously low once more. "While he may be my best friend, I swear if he hurt you, I'll kill him."

"He didn't technically do anything wrong," she told him. She wanted to place all of the blame on the ferret, but she knew it wasn't the truth and was wrong.

His features softened. "Hermione, tell me what happened."

She sniffled. "I-I like him a lot Blaise. I might even care for him more than that. I wanted to go and tell him how I feel and that I wanted to be with him and only him. But I was stupid, I was so stupid Blaise, to think that he would want someone like me."

An icy look came upon his face, while the expression on Daphne's was unreadable.

"What did he do Hermione?" he asked once more.

"He was making out with another girl in his bed. He didn't even do anything wrong really, I mean after all he is at perfect liberty to kiss whoever he likes. I-I was just stupid enough to think that he would like me. He's Draco freaking Malfoy; why would he ever like a girl like me? I am so stupid for thinking that I stood a chance," she said, breaking into sobs once more.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Blaise demanded forcefully.

She shook softly. "Blaise look at me. I'm plain. Guys barely like girls like me. Thinking I had a chance with Draco was definitely a dream. I'm not like those other girls. I'm not pretty like them or even that fun to be around. I just thought that he was different and that he saw me that way too. But I was o-obviously wrong," she said quietly.

Blaise looked like he wanted to yell at her, but Daphne cut in smoothly.

"Hermione, you need to stop basing your opinion on yourself based on how you looked when you were eleven. We were all young back then and then we all went through awkward puberty stages. Even though you are a bit different now since you found out you were a Zabini, you were beautiful even as your old self. But now, you are completely stunning," the girl beside her said.

Blaise seemed to cool down. "Hermione, you need to look in a mirror. I have literally been sending glares at the hundreds of boys that shot looks at you that looked somewhat inappropriate. I wanted to find some way to tell you, but you just seemed so pure and innocent to tell. But if I knew what you thought of yourself, I would have told you in a second. Hermione, guys like you; in fact, they adore you. You may think that guys don't like you that way, but they do. Hermione, you are beautiful and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And don't think I am saying this as your brother; I am saying this as a boy who has had to listen to several conversations between others pertaining to their thought to you. Trust me, I've punched enough of them to learn how to do it without hurting myself in the process," he said, smiling at her.

Daphne spoke again. "He's a fool Hermione. If he thinks that some bimbo is a better catch, then he is a huge fool. You are better off than with him. You deserve someone who appreciates you and your amazing personality. It's his loss completely," she said with confidence.

She felt better after listening to the pair talk to her. While she would not be able to gain so much self confidence in one day, she already felt like she was pretty enough. She gave them both a smile and decided to leave them to their own devices as she went back to her room. They had been both worried to let her go back so soon, but she assured them that she would be fine. At least now she didn't need to face the humiliation of telling him her feelings and have Draco have to painfully reject her. Now they could still be friends without her childish crush in the way.

Hermione tried to tell herself that she only had such feelings because he was there for her when no one else was, but accepting it seemed too hard. She hoped that her feelings would fade over time and that she could move on. It pained her that her love life always seemed to fail while the ones of those around her seemed to constantly bloom and flourish into beautiful things.

* * *

She walked back to her room, and as she opened the portrait, the blonde girl who she assumed had been under Draco, left in a rush. She didn't even bother looking at Hermione, but walked out looking preoccupied.

"Have fun in your rendezvous?" she asked him as she plopped down to him on the couch. He had his arm sprawled up along the back of the couch and his legs resting on the footstool. When he didn't reply she continued to try and act as a friend. "She seemed nice, is it official now?" she asked him again, hoping for an answer.

"Why do you care?" he snapped, meeting her eyes for the first time since she entered the room. His voice was filled with such malice and anger, that she felt herself shake under the tone of his voice. She had not been expecting this.

"Because I thought we were friends? You were perfectly fine talking to me this morning Draco, so don't go acting like you are the person you used to be. I thought you were different now, but here you are snapping at me like I did something wrong," she said, allowing the hurt emotions she felt to seep into her voice.

"Exactly. You thought I was different, but sorry to disappoint you sweetheart, but I am the same person I've always been. It's time that you came to terms with that and accepted it," he growled.

"No," she said quietly but strongly. "You are different Draco. You are not who you used to be." She had no idea what had changed with him, but she didn't like how the conversation was taking a turn to something which would probably end up hurting both of them.

"But it's still not good enough for you is it?" he shouted out at her without holding back; his voice was filled with pain and loathing. "It will never be good enough for you, no matter how much I change."

"What do you mean?" she asked, eyes narrowing. "What does this have to do with me?"

"It's always been about you! Why can't you see that?" he yelled out again.

She was absolutely confused about what he was saying. "Draco, what's wrong?"

"Don't pretend you don't know. I know Irish boy asked you out this afternoon," Draco told her angrily, as if it somehow justified what was currently happening.

Her eyes glared at him. "You were watching me?" she asked through gritted teeth. "What gave you the right to watch and listen to a private conversation that had nothing to do with you?"

"Doesn't matter now does it? You accepted him asking you out. Someone like I, never even stood a chance in your books did I?" he asked rhetorically.

"What do you mean I accepted. I hate to break your pity party _Malfoy_, but you can't get all pissed after listening to a small part of a private conversation. If you waited to hear my answer then you would know that I said no. I didn't feel the same way for him about him as he did me. I _liked _someone else. But I've realised that he is a huge pretentious jerk who plays around with the feelings of the girls around them. I saw that girl leave here Draco. Her face was filled with rage and she ran out without even acknowledging me. How many other girls have you used and threw to the trash like that? You know Draco, I thought I liked you, but I am so glad you showed your true colours to me before I went and did something stupid like telling you how I felt," she said, allowing the angry tears to flood her face. She turned to leave the stunned boy in the room, and head back to her own.

He grabbed her wrist before she could move. "Hermione wait. I'm sorry," he said, his voice filling with pain and regret. "Please, sit down. Don't go, just let me explain," he pleaded.

She sighed, knowing that this was probably the stupidest thing she was about to agree to, before following him back to the couch.

"Hermione, I never should have yelled at you. And I promise I wasn't following you today. I came to find you because I had something to tell you," he said, before taking a deep breath. "Hermione, I like you, and I have for a while. I liked you even before you changed into this amazingly beautiful woman. I liked you when you had your bushy hair and your buck teeth. Hermione, I've been in love with you for the last couple years and didn't know how to tell you. And I couldn't tell you. If my father found out, he would have killed you faster than you could react to the news. I couldn't wait anymore, and I came to find you and tell you that I love you and that I can't spend another second away from you."

She felt most of the anger dissipate from her body. "But then I heard him talking to you and I lost it. I thought that you would accept for sure. After all, he is the better choice. He fought with you during the war and has stood behind you while helping defend Hogwarts. I on the other hand, am a Death Eater. I have watched my side kill and bullied you horribly these last couple years. He is the better choice and I knew that you would be better off with him. As for Laura Madley, she knew that this meant nothing. I offered her a snogging session, but she got angry when I couldn't continue. I had to kick her out and she got pissed," he said softly.

She placed a finger over his mouth. "You're not a Death Eater Draco. You were a boy who didn't have a choice." She paused as she moved closer to him. "I'm glad you made her leave," she whispered softly in his ear.

"And why's that?" he smirked softly at her, glad that she had forgiven him.

"So I can do this," she said, as she moved closer and their lips touched.


	19. Making it Official

**Chapter 19**

Hermione pulled away from Draco with a wide smile placed upon her face. "Wow," she said breathless. She gazed into his silver eyes and saw a similar expression on his face.

"Wow," he echoed back.

The two of them continued to stare into each other's eyes for a while before Hermione leaned in for another kiss. However this one was different. While the first one had all the magic of a first, inexperienced kiss, this one was more passionate, filled with lust and need.

When they pulled away this time, there was a bit more panting in between. She cuddled into his chest while he held his arms around her waist tightly. She couldn't remember a time where she was left feeling so complete and so happy. And to think a few hours back she wanted to sever all romantic thoughts she had of Draco.

After a while of sitting in that position, Draco spoke once more. "Hermione, do you reckon that you would want to go out with me?" he asked, with a tone of nervousness gracing his voice.

She smiled at boy in front of her. Draco Malfoy was someone who she knew to always be completely confident in the way that he carried his self. But here he was sitting with her in his arms and asking her out while looking genuinely worried about what she would say.

She cuddled in tighter into his arms and whispered, "Draco, I would love to go out with you," she said into his chest.

She felt his smile as he buried his head into her hair.

* * *

Draco smiled to himself as Hermione left to go use the bathroom. He had finally gotten the girl of his dreams after six years of having feelings for her. He couldn't believe his luck that she had declined Seamus for him. The mere fact that she would even consider him that way after everything his family had put her through was beyond him.

At that moment, a very angry looking Blaise barged into their room followed by Daphne attempting to cool him down.

"Draco what have you done?" his voice boomed as he marched up to him. "I haven't seen Hermione since she came to me crying. So I swear if I find out that you've hurt her again since then, then I will absolutely not hesitate in the slightest to kill you," he threatened with a glare.

Draco's eyes widened when he realised why Hermione had been crying. He felt his heart sink at the thought of making her cry over his stupid mistakes.

"Well?" Blaise demanded. "What have you done to my sister?"

"Nothing Blaise I swear," Draco said hurriedly. He didn't know how to tell his friend that he had recently snogged his little sister. If he did, then he was filled with fear that Blaise would pummel him for defiling her.

Hermione walked out of the bathroom just then and snaked her arms around Draco's waist before planting a kiss on Draco's neck. After he coughed, she looked up and saw Blaise and Daphne there for the first time since she re-entered her common room.

"Blaise, what are you doing here?" she exclaimed as she felt herself turn red. She walked up to her brother and gave him a hug.

The pair stared at Draco and Hermione speechless.

"Does someone want to explain to me what exactly happened in the last hour?" Blaise demanded. He had his arms crossed after pulling away from his hug with his sister and a scowl was worn on his face.

Hermione and Draco exchanged looks, not sure what exactly it was that they were supposed to say to Blaise or Daphne. Draco still looked worried, as he knew that Blaise's threats were not a force to be reckoned with. He was often true to his word and did exactly what he promised he would do.

"Draco and I are together," Hermione told her brother calmly.

"And what about what you told us? How he was in here fooling around with some fifth year? Hermione did you somehow manage to forget about all of that? Because as I recall, it hurt you a lot, and that is no reason for you to jump straight into his arms after he gives you an opening. I thought you were going to try and move on," he asked accusingly.

Daphne cut in before he could say anything else. "What he means Hermione, is that it seemed like Draco hurt you a lot. And we don't want you to get together with him for the wrong reasons, such as the fact that you feel vulnerable at the moment," the girl told her in a more gentler manner than her brother.

This didn't seem to anger Draco as much as Hermione was worried that it would.

"Blaise, me and Draco talked after I came back up here. He heard me talking to Seamus and assumed that I accepted him when he asked me out. And to mask uehis pain, he came up here with another girl," Hermione said, summing up the night rather shortly.

He felt himself wince as he heard her describing it like that. He really hadn't meant to hurt her by kissing another girl. He just wanted to not feel the amount of pain that he felt and wanted it to end. He had hoped that by going after another girl, his heart would ache less. Bloodly hell, his feelings in the simpler terms Hermione used, made him sound so clichéd.

Blaise's expression softened at this as he smiled tenderly at his little sister, and gave his mate a warning look. "I wasn't lying Malfoy, if you hurt my sister in any way, then I will make sure personally that the Malfoy line is no longer able to continue." He then smiled at the pair. "But I am really happy for the two of you. Personally, I was waiting for you to man up and ask her out Draco. Merlin knows that you've been pining for her for as long as I could remember.

Draco scoffed at this as he wrapped his arms around Hermione. "I could say the same thing to you mate," he said as he gave Blaise and Daphne a pointed look. "Just how long have the two of you been together?"

Daphne blushed slightly as Blaise broke into a bright smile. "A few weeks now," he said proudly.

The two couples sat down and began to talk, each sharing stories about how they got together. It turned out that Blaise passed her a flying crane, similar to the one Draco passed to Harry in third year, magically with the words "Will you go out with me" appearing on the paper. She had waited until class was over before throwing herself into his arms and accepting. Of course they had made sure to go somewhere private first to prevent the rest of the world from finding out right away.

Hermione scolded her brother for not telling her, and he told her defensively that he was planning on it eventually. They stayed up their together, hanging out and talking until it was time for curfew and Blaise and Daphne had to leave.

* * *

Hermione and Draco stood together outside the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning. The two of them were planning on walking in together holding hands. Through the rumour mill, it would eventually spread that they were together, and soon everyone would know.

"Are you sure you want to do this today?" Draco asked her, feeling worried about her. He didn't want to place too much stress upon her. "We can always wait until another day after we've been together for more than just a couple hours."

She shook her head hastily. "No, if we don't do this now, then it will keep getting harder, especially if we keep prolonging it further." She paused, "Besides, I want everyone to know that you're mine," she said blushing slightly at her remark.

He smiled fondly at his witch before placing a kiss upon her forehead. "I want all these blokes to know that you're mine too. I don't want to have to witness anymore of them hitting on you," he said with a grimace.

She smirked at her new boyfriend. "Maybe you need to stop stalking me then," she teased.

He scowled playfully at her. "You're mine Zabini, and soon everyone will know it," he growled before bringing her into a kiss.

At the exact moment the door opened from the inside as a couple of students were exiting the hall. From inside there was a collective gasp as people instantaneously turned around to stare at the most unlikely couple.

Hermione turned bright red as soon as she noticed all the people watching her. She interwined her fingers with his as he whispered in her ear. "Well 'Mione, it's now or never," he said. The two of them walked in together as people continued to stare, before eventually returning back to their food and gossiping about how the two had gotten together.

He walked her to where Harry and Ron were sitting. He placed another brief kiss on her lips before turning to go sit with Blaise and the other Slytherins.

Ron, Harry and Ginny just gaped at her as she sat down beside them.

"Well, I can't say that I'm surprised," Harry said finally, breaking the silence that their area held. "From the moment you began to hang out with him I started to expect that you would end up dating him."

Ginny just squealed. "You're dating Draco Malfoy!" she shouted, before returning her composure. "You have to tell me everything," she said, before adding, "later of course," when she saw Ron and Harry give her a look that showed that they would rather not intrude on the feminine moment.

She looked at Ron, unsure about how he would act. Their friendship had slowly been repairing and she was afraid that this would once again wreck it all over. The last thing she wanted was for them to have another fight over her choice of company.

But to her relief and partial surprise, he merely shrugged at her. "I don't think I can ever like Malfoy, Hermione. But I've had enough arguments with you for a lifetime. If you trust him then that's good enough for me," he told her softly.

Thank was enough to release a rush of emotions through her system. "Oh Ron!" She exclaimed happily as she threw her arms around him.

A bit shocked by the action, the ginger boy wrapped his arms around her. "But don't get me wrong 'Mione. If he hurts you then I am using the opportunity to kill him," he warned, returning to the normal 'Ron'.

She smiled at her friends. "Thank you," she said honestly, 'for accepting that I'm with him. I know that they are going to be a lot of rumours spinning off from this, and knowing that I have you guys to support me really helps. I know that a lot of people aren't going to be happy with this, so I'm glad that you guys are with me," she said.

They all smiled at her.

"Mione, if you were dating a troll we would probably still support you," Harry said, before pausing. "Wait, scratch that. After first year, I don't think I ever want to encounter another one ever again," he said with a shrudder.

She smiled at him, "You and me both Harry," she said. The four broke out into laughter.

* * *

Meanwhile, the entire exchange had been watched from the professor table. Minerva smirked before turning to face her colleage Filius Flitwick.

"I told you that the two of them would end up together," she told the tiny teacher beside her.

He sighed while watching the two sit at their separate tables, but still occasionally steal looks at each other. "I don't know how you can honestly tell these things Minerva. You figured out eight years ago that they would end up together, back at a time when they barely crossed each other's radars unless to find ways to torment each other."

Pomona Sprout shook her head. "It's always the same story. She picks the two that are the least likely to end up together and says that they will. Remember James and Lily? I don't think I've ever seen a girl reject someone that many times without the boy giving up. Really Minerva, I don't know how you know these things."

She smiled at the two professors beside her with a twinkle in her eye, "I just do."

* * *

**A/N:** So they're official! *squeals* By the way, I love reading your reactions yesterday. I wasn't quite sure if I wanted them to kiss or not. Part of me wanted to have her march out of the room angrily then wait a couple more chapters for them to get together, but when I was writing it, it just seemed right for them to kiss then.


	20. To Plot Against

**Chapter 20**

Almost a month had passed by since Hermione and Draco had made their relationship public. People had been extremely shocked and sceptical about the announcement, not believing that something like it was even possible. After all, a Slytherin and a Gryffindor? It was practically unheard of. Especially since _everyone_ knew of the history the pair shared. The last time a couple like that came together, it had resulted in betrayal, lies, and expulsion. It was safe to say that the pairing had never worked. So one could see why it was such a large piece of gossip to the nosy halls of Hogwarts.

But they had eventually begun to slow down as most pieces of juicy gossip tended to do. Granted, the story had been extremely exaggerated in some cases, and many believed that there was a use of a love potion involved; both Hermione and Draco were separately the culprits of the dosing, depending on who you asked. But there was only so many ways one could spin a story without it becoming unbelievable. Slowly the stares and whispers that occurred when they passed by, died down. People stopped staring at the pair as if they were an oddity to Hogwarts and began to care more about newer pieces of gossip.

But there was one person who was definitely not happy to hear the news at all. She walked down the hallway cursing the mudblood. That's right, _mudblood_. After all, there was just no way she could be a pureblood. As much as she hated to admit it, Hermione was smart. And if there was anyone who could find out how to trick an ancient-dating pureblood family into believing that she was their daughter, it was her. It was rather obvious why she had been possessed to do such a thing. After all, Draco was a very big catch. But he would never look at someone with the status of a mudblood. So obviously she felt the need to lie about it to gain him. Stupid lying _filth._

Pansy shrieked in frustration. It just wasn't fair. Draco was _hers._ And there was just no way she would allow some stupid mudblood bitch to steal him away. She had Draco had been _happy_ together. While he had betrayed their side during the war, she had simply chalked it up to momentary insanity. After all, there was no reason that he could possibly believe that the scum the 'light' had supported deserved their magic. While Pansy herself may not have been a Death Eater, it didn't deter from the fact that she still held their beliefs.

She kicked a bag that someone had left in the hall as she continued to walk down it, cursing the existence of Hermione_ Zabini_.

"Mind your language young lady!" A portrait on the wall exclaimed. "In my day, witches always spoke with proper tones of respectable behaviour," the 16th century man finished with contempt.

She scowled at him, "Well you _are _dead. So why do I need to take orders from the likes of you?" she glared. She didn't wait to hear his reply of disdain. She hardly had the time to waste listening to the woes of old dead people. Especially when they weren't a pureblood. After all, why waste her time showing respect to filth?

"Stupid mudblood bitch," she repeated for the umpteenth time, not even caring who listened anymore. If it were up to her, she would shout it out in front of everyone. But since the stupid Ministry of Magic had put her on probation after the war, she found it especially hard to get away with the things she had gotten accustomed to the previous year.

"I take it that you are not a huge fan of She-Zabini are we? My my, I certainly expected more from you. What happened to all the _inner house unity_ crap that we are all supposed to be skipping down the hall about?" a voice asked from around the corner. Pansy recognised the voice before she saw the owner leaning against the wall, his arms crossed around his chest and his left leg propped up behind him against the wall. Of course it would be him to hear her rant.

It wasn't that she and Nott didn't get along. After all, they did have several heavy snogging sessions last year. But it wasn't as if it had meant anything. Both were lonely, and Draco was busy gallivanting off with Voldemort in his house. And girls do have _needs_ after all that they need satisfied. What was she expected to do, play the good obedient girlfriend who waited faithfully? As if.

But as the last year came to a close, so did Pansy and Theo. They went back to talking when the occasion required it, which was rarely, and tried to stay out of the other's way. It was easier than talking to someone who you had spent the year snogging. Which was also why it came to such a shock to her that he was now here talking to her out of his own free will.

"Listening in on people's private thoughts now are we Nott?" she sneered at the boy in her house.

He rolled his eyes at the witch's hostility. "Not exactly private if you are speaking it aloud Parkinson," he mocked.

"What do you want Nott? Other than to try and stalk me."

"Not everything is about you Parkinson. But I believe that the two of us have a common interest."

"Oh yeah? And what could that be?" Pansy said, hardly believing the boy for a minute. There was very little that she and Theo ever shared in common, so for him to believe that they could, was beyond her.

"It's rather simple. You want Malfoy and I want Zabini. So why don't we help each other so we can each get what we want?" he asked, with a gleam of evil in his eyes.

Pansy smiled, already formulating a plan in her mischievous, scheming mind. "I like how you think Nott," she said.

* * *

It was hard for Seamus to see her every day with him. After all, they did get together just after she rejected him. It hurt knowing that he loved her so much but she would never see her as any more than a friend. Personally, he thought no one was good enough for her, including himself. How he wished he would have been good enough for her to consider dating him. But he knew that it wasn't enough. She didn't share the same spark of passion and love when she thought about him. And you can't change how you feel towards a person romantically. You either like them or you don't.

He could accept it though. At least she was happy with Malfoy. And it made him feel better to know that he would be there to pick up the pieces if it fell apart. But in the meantime he knew it was time to move on. He couldn't waste his entire life pining away for a girl who would never return the same sentiments that he felt towards her. So he would go on, and let his heart heal from the wound it held. And if somewhere along the line he found a girl who felt that way towards him (and obviously he felt the same way toward her), then he would date her. But for now, it would be just him. And to be honest, he was happy to know how she felt. It was better than spending years crushing on a girl when you simply had no idea how she felt. The amount of time he spend wondering over it could have been put to better productive things, like actually spending time with her instead of dreaming. But now he knew what he would have to do for next time with whoever it was with.

* * *

"It's going just as I planned it to," a voice crackled. There were three figures in the room. One witch and two wizards. They were in a cave, located with proximity to the school where a recent interest of theirs was attending. The cave was darkly lit, just bright enough for each of the inhabitants to see the silhouettes of the faces.

The taller wizard smiled wickedly. "Soon the mudblood bitch will be ours, and with her in our grasp, we can definitely lure out Potter to save his whore. Then we can kill the Golden Trio and return the world back to the way it was supposed to be, before those brats got in the way," he said, spitting out his last words in disgust.

"What does the spell require?" the shorter wizard asked again.

The witch rolled her eyes, "I swear if you get any stupider then you would probably die," she snarled out. Seeing that he didn't seem to remember the requirements of the spell that she had been working so hard on making sure that went perfect, she would have to remind him. After all, the last thing she wanted was for him to screw this up for her.

"We need to secure the connection that we already have with the mudblood in order to activate a trace on her. That way, we'll know where is at all times and once we get her alone, then we can take her,"

"And how do we secure the connection?" he asked again, earning him a glare from the other two occupants of the room.

While she was tempted not to reply, she knew she needed him. The spell required three people, and they were the only Death Eaters that were free who hadn't found some sort of way out of Azkaban by feigning mock loyalty to the Order and the light. While they may have been on the run, they were still able to accomplish a lot over the past few months.

"I've been slowly opening the connection for the last several months, through a scar that I left marking her of her filth. And by doing so, I've been opening her up to me and showing her what I want for her to see. By now it should be large enough for us to complete the spell and have it be successful."

"So it's similar to what the Dark Lord did to Potter?" he asked again, sounding sceptical. After all, it had back fired on him several times. What's to say it wouldn't backfire on them as well?

"No you idiot! It's purely one sided. I can show her what I want and see what I want and find her, but she'll never be able to see anything about me and my plans unless I want her to. Not even if I have a crack of emotions."

Seeming to accept this answer, the three gathered around the candle to form a triangle. As it reached the perfect time of the full moon to rise to its maximum height, they each squeezed a drop of their blood into the fire. Together they chanted "Nos alligant illius quam gerit nostrum marcam." The fire heightened, causing them all to fall back, as it glowed a bright red colour. They each felt the large amount of energy which flowed through their systems before the fire returned back to its original state.

"It is done."

* * *

Back at the school Hermione sat next to Draco as the revised each other's essays, checking for any faults. Obviously there was nothing wrong with either of theirs, but they still felt the need to check, in the odd case that they had done something wrong. She had her feet propped up against his lap as she rested her back against the arm of the couch. He had placed his arms over her legs, holding her parchment in his hands.

She felt a huge amount of energy flow through her, as if she was somehow opening herself completely. She knew that it wasn't possible, but before she could go on to explore the possibility any further, she had fainted from the power.


	21. Distorting Reality

**Chapter 21**

Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.

_ - Albus Dumbledore_, Philosopher's Stone

* * *

"You are nothing but mudblood scum," the voice whispered jeeringly. Hermione was all alone, surrounded by nothing by black space all around her. No matter how fast she ran she couldn't escape. There was no light anywhere, but that which was bring enough for her to see herself.

An image flashed before her of her, Harry, and Ron. It was them just sitting together one night in third year by the fire in their common room. They were laughing over some non-trivial matter and enjoying both the warmth of the fire and each other's company. While there might not have been anything significant about the moment, it was one of her favourites. For once in their lives before the defeat of Voldemort, they were truly peaceful. For once there was no sign of him trying to find a way to resurrect himself. While there was still the threat of 'Sirius Black', he was kilometres away, and they had no reason to worry. They were free of all threats and could just relax. It was one of the memories she had used to produce a patronus for the first time when younger.

She felt herself smile at the memory. But before her happiness could overspread, the memory was reduced to nothing. In its place was a new memory, one she never had. It was so vivid that she found herself shake, questioning whether it had happened or not. She watched as Harry and Ron sat next to Ginny by the same fire, laughing once more. But Hermione wasn't there. It was as if she never had been there. Listening in to the conversation, she found that she was the topic of their laughter.

"Oh Merlin, you should have heard her in class today Ginny," Ron said laughing. "Snape actually took points off her from being, and I quote, 'an insufferable know-it-all."

The three of them burst out once more into heavy laughter.

Harry, wiping his eyes from laughing so hard, continued, "You should have heard Trelawney the other day. She actually told the bookworm that she wasn't good at the subject. I mean its Divination. All you do is make up random morbid garbage and she loves it. But Granger is far too much of a goody-two-shoes to do that. "

She felt herself quiver at the sight of her friends so openly mocking her. It pained her to see them acting so different from what she knew them to be.

"Hurts doesn't it, realising the truth? They never did see you as anything more than a useful walking encyclopedia. The truth is, they hated you all this time but were simply too nice to tell you to go away. But now you know what kind of friends they are."

She felt herself cry. The next vision was of her and her adoptive parents. There they were sitting with her around the table after finding out she was a witch. Her mom and dad, as confused as they were about the sudden change in their daughter, had been pleased that there was an explanation for her powers. They had been thrilled to know that she was so talented and made sure they always told her that.

Her dad turned on the camera and placed it on the shelf.

Hermione protested. "Dad, you don't need to take a picture to document everything anymore. I'm not a little kid. Seriously, we'll all be able to remember this moment for the rest of our lives. I'm certain of it."

He shook his head. "I tell you this every time princess. I don't want to forget a single moment of your life. And by taking these pictures we can remember how we felt during these moments. Besides, what are we going to do when you leave us for ten months at a time to go away?" he asked, making her feel guilty.

Sighing, she gave into her father's request and positioned herself closer to where her mother was sitting. She had told her so many times how proud of her she was, that Hermione thought she was become like a broken record for her many repetitions.

He grabbed the cord that allowed him to take the picture without being in the shot, and walked back over to where he was sitting on the table. The three of them smiled brightly at the camera, saying the words "Magic".

Like the previous memory, this one was also replace in the same manner. Instead of her happy childhood, she now saw her mum and dad talking in hushed whispers while Hermione was presumably asleep for the night.

"I don't know what we're going to do," her mum sobbed. "I never knew that she was so different. I always chalked it up to the fact that they were children and they allowed their imaginations to run wild. How was I supposed to know that she was some sort of, of aberration?"

Her father brought her into a tight hug. "Don't worry Jean. It's better this way, don't you see? At least this way we aren't forced to deal with it much longer. She'll be at that circus for most of the year, so we only need to see her for a couple months at a time. Then after she's an adult, she'll live in the wizarding world. We won't have to worry about that freak of a daughter any longer," he soothed his wife. He scowled toward the staircase, where Hermione's room was located.

She felt tears prickle her eyes again as the voice returned with the darkness. "You are nothing to them, don't you see? They saw you for what you truly were at that moment; scum. Not _even _they wanted you. You didn't belong in their world, nor do you belong in ours, don't you see that?"

She saw her biological family next. It was a memory of when they all went out together over the summer. Draco had had to leave to take care of some of his father's businesses. All of the estates and transgressions of his father had been transferred into his name after his father's arrest. Her family had gone to wizarding Paris for the day after Hermione had confessed that she had never visited there before but always wanted to.

They were walking down the muggle side of the town at that moment, a place where the Zabinis never had visited, after viewing all of the wizard areas. They wanted to be able to explore it together, as a family. She had convinced them to try croissants and hot chocolate together after much persuasion, and they found to their delight, that they adored the food choices.

"Seriously Hermione, you need to have been here before. You have no idea how good this muggle food tastes!" Blaise exclaimed happily.

Her mum glared at her son. "Hermione darling, what Blaise means, is that we are so happy to have you back. We have missed you incredibly over these last eighteen years."

Blaise looked sheepish, "Yeah that," he said.

Her father wrapped his arm over her shoulders. "Now explain one more time what this 'automobile' is?" he asked, causing the three to burst into laughter again before Hermione rushed to explain the function again.

Once again, the memory was replaced. Hermione thought she would be ready for it this time, but she wasn't. There was her mum, dad, and Blaise, sitting in a similar café as they were previously, although it was obvious that this one was in the wizarding world. The only difference was that this time Hermione wasn't there. It was as if she failed to have been brought back to their family.

"I must say, I am a bit disappointed," her mum said sadly. "I've always wanted a daughter and to find my daughter. But just knowing that it was her has completely changed my mind. I would rather not have her in my house. Not now or not ever," she said with a sigh.

Her father had slung his arm around her shoulder as he shook his head. "She was raised as a muggleborn. There is no way that she would ever fit in to our world. She's just not like us. She's too eager to fit in and very ungraceful. Imagine the disgrace she would do to our family if she was ever brought into it. It's much better that she never knows that she is a pureblood."

Her brother nodded his head, whole-heartedly agreeing. "You are both right obviously. You should have seen her in school. She would go recklessly into situations and would act like a muggle during them. She has no etiquette or pose in the slightest."

The voice sneered at her as the darkness engulfed her once more. "Even your dear family are much happier off without knowing you. After all, why would they want to have a mudblood like you in their ranks?"

She next saw her and Draco together. She had her head rested in his lap, reading the muggle novel, Pride and Prejudice for the millionth time. She loved how Mr. Darcy had managed to come so far and change his views about society and follow his heart. In some way, it reminded her of Draco, and how he had managed to get out from under his father's grasp. He was able to see how wrong the views of Voldemort were and able to do the right thing.

He was reading a book as well, but his was by some wizard. He told her that it was an Auror mystery, where the Auror manages to track down a missing criminal based on a single mark he left behind. As simple of a concept it seemed to be, Draco convinced her that the author made it much more elaborate than just that. While she was wearing nothing more than a pair of sweatpants and a baggy tee-shirt, he didn't seem to mind.

As the night grew long, she had fallen asleep peacefully in his lap. He had been careful not to move her too much in fear of waking her up. So after extending the couch to a bed size, he slowly moved her so she was lying in the direction of the couch instead of perpendicular to it. He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead gingerly before whispering to her, "You're beautiful 'Mione. Never change."

She felt herself grow warm at the sight of her boyfriend taking such good care of her without as much making a sexual advance, as she knew some boys their age would be more than tempted to do. She didn't know how much had happened that day, as when she woke up the couch had been fitted back to its original size and Draco had placed breakfast for her on the table.

But before she could reminisce any further, the darkness surrounded her. She looked to see Draco standing in front of her with a sneer plastered upon his face. He looked like he had back in his earlier Hogwarts years when they hadn't gotten along.

"Why would I ever like someone like you?" he sniggered. "You're so plain and ugly. You're boring Hermione, and you're a complete prude. Why would I want someone like you when I can have any one of them?" he asked, as he gestured to the many women behind him. They were all the females she could think of that attended Hogwarts, but their beauty had been magnified to a point where they all might as well have been Veelas.

By time she was claimed by the darkness, she was full on sobbing. "You were never wanted Mudblood. Not by your family, not by your friends, and definitely not by Draco. You are useless and much better off dead."

The voice had left much quicker this time, but Hermione was once again alone. But this time, instead of being on solid ground, she was falling, fast.

* * *

Hermione woke up in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts. The last thing she remembered was the flash of energy surging through her veins. She remembered the visions she had in her sleep and felt herself cringe at the memory. She knew that none of it was true, and it never will happen. But at least she knew one thing; the voice in her dream was the same as the person who left her the scar: Bellatrix Lestrange.

* * *

**A/N:** I know there was very little plot in this chapter, but I wanted to show what kind of thing Bellatrix could accomplish by opening the barrier. It isn't necessary fears of Hermione, as much as distorting her perception on reality and what she knows. By shaking her up and causing her to question what she believes in, Bella thinks she can continue to weaken her up. But with this said, she has no way of knowing what exactly Hermione sees, and this will be explained in the next couple of chapters. And lastly, yes I decided to keep her alive. I know she was supposed to have died by the hand of Molly, but when I first thought up this story, I remembered the quote by Dumbledore and remembered how Bellatrix had left a scar on Hermione with magic. I wondered if she were alive, what sort of things it could have done to her, and thus kept her alive.

If you're still confused about what just happened: The memories that were more happier and joyous (the first ones in each of the people's cases) were the true ones. Bellatrix then manipulated the memory to make it seem like the complete opposite, to make her seem that she wasn't wanted. By doing thus, she thinks that she can isolate Hermione from those who love her. But Bellatrix had no control in which memories used or what they were manipulated into.


	22. The Twins' Connection

**Chapter 22**

Hermione sat up in the bed. As she did so, she saw that another bed was pushed next to hers. In the bed, Blaise was lying there, unconscious. Surrounding them stood her parents, Draco, Harry, Ron, and Dumbledore. Basically, there were a lot of people surrounding them right now. Draco was sitting in the bed holding her hand and Daphne was sitting closer to Blaise, and was currently stroking his face. Harry and Ron were pacing back and forth worriedly. As they noticed that she was awake, their faces brightened in partial relief, mainly because Blaise wasn't conscious yet.

"Hermione! Oh thank Merlin you're awake," Draco exclaimed as he brought her into a tight hug. She hugged him back, grateful to be able to be with the 'real' Draco as opposed to the one in her dreams that told her that he never wanted him. This was the Draco she knew and she loved. "I was so worried that something was going to happen to you," he said in a gentle voice, full of worry and pain.

She ran her hands through his hair. "I'm fine Draco. I'm here, see? Nothing is going to happen to me," she assured him. He released his grasp on her but stayed near her. Ron and Harry joined the circle surrounding them and watched her with a worried glance. "I'm fine," she said again, this time for the benefit of those watching. Their faces slightly relaxed at this, but there was still the air of anxiety in the room.

Blaise awoke around this time and Daphne had wrapped her arms around his neck, sobbing hysterically. "Oh Blaise, you have no idea just how much you worried me! You were perfectly fine one moment, and then the next thing I know, you've gone and fainted!"

Blaise looked over at Hermione, "Wait, don't tell me you fainted at the exact same time as me," he spoke, sounding extremely incredulous. Now that he mentioned it, it seemed to have a very strange timing for the occurrence. There was just no way that it could have been a coincidence, for two people to faint at the same time, let alone a pair of twins.

Her parents reacted for the first time since she gained consciousness. Her mum grabbed them both up in her arms, squishing them immediately upon impact, while her dad place a hand on his wife's shoulder. She realised from the shaking of her mother that she was sobbing.

"You two have no idea how much you shocked me. To have one child in the infirmary is bad enough, but to receive a floo call saying that they are both in the hospital for the same condition? Oh Merlin, I don't know what I would do if I find out that something has happened to you two."

She soothed her mum by grasping her tighter in a hug while Blaise tried to calm her down.

"Don't fret about us mum. I play Quidditch, and I have gotten hurt far worse from that sport," he said, trying to assure her.

However, this only earned him a glare. "At least when you are playing Quidditch I have a general idea what has harmed you. But the two of you both fainted without any warning and when they ran the tests on you, neither of you showed any sign of what happened. So tell me, what should I be more worried about?" she said, sobbing once more. "What if something bad has happened and we just don't know it yet?"

Her father pulled her away from her kids and wrapped his arms around her tightly, allowing for her to sob into his chest while he stroked his arm over her back.

Harry spoke for the first time, "Mrs. Zabini raises a good point Professor," he said, addressing Dumbledore. "Why was it that they were both affected by whatever it was to harm them?" Hermione noticed for the first time that he was shaking completely with anger. She rarely saw Harry express his anger these days after the war ended so for him to be so worked up, caused her to worry.

Dumbledore had looked thoughtful for the last several moments, as if by taking in the conversation, he was somehow able to draw parallels to gain some sort of conclusion on the matter. Proving her belief, he spoke for the first time since she had woken up.

"Hermione, Blaise," he said, addressing the two of them. "There have been stories for several millennia about certain types of abilities that twin siblings of magical descent can perform. In these tales, they are sometimes able to communicate through telepathic methods, or even channel magic through each other. In other cases, it has been reported that if one thing is affecting one twin, if drastic enough, it can affect the other," he said, gesturing to the two of them with this. "It is to my belief that this applies to you, from what I have heard so far."

Ron protested at this, "But Professor, that can't possibly be true. I mean Fred and George do not have any of those sorts of qualities and they are twins after all," he said, sounding sceptical to the elder man's proposal.

Dumbledore did not look belittled by this, "Mr. Weasley, your brothers exhibit this similarity as we, just to a lower degree. They have the ability to know what is on the other's mind, and if something is wrong with them. Granted, it isn't as strong as the bond between Hermione and Blaise, but there is still one," he told the ginger boy.

Ron didn't seem to understand completely, "So why it that there can be a difference in levels of connection? I mean shouldn't all twins possess similar strengths in abilities?"

He shook his head patiently and began to explain, "The Zabini family has had more occurrences of the twin gene in their family lineage, and as the number increases, so does the strength in the gene. In addition to that, the Zabini family is known to be a strong and have an extremely exceptional amount of power. Just look at Miss. Zabini," he said gesturing to Hermione. "In addition to this, the bond between Hermione and Blaise is extremely strong. Not to say that the one between Fred and George is weak, good Merlin we all know how close they are. But the strength of Hermione and Blaise's bond help add to their amount of power."

"I always knew I was special," Blaise exclaimed, earning a much needed laugh from everyone in the room.

He waited for everyone in to room to grasp what he had said before continuing on with his explanation. Draco had grasped one of her hands softly in his own and had been stroking her knuckles softly with his thumb, sending an electric pulse through her veins. "It's my belief that something caused one of you some sort of damage, either trauma based or not, but it affected both of you equally."

"What kind of trauma?" her father asked, eyes narrowing. "What could cause them both to end up here in the hospital because it's so bad?"

Dumbledore looked at the two of them again. "Did either of notice anything out of the ordinary before you fainted or while you were asleep?" he asked them.

Hermione's had immediately rose to cover her scar on her forearm as Blaise looked confused. Blaise was the first to speak, "No, nothing of the sort. Last thing I remember, I was, er, talking to Daphne and now I woke up here," he said to the group. Daphne blushed at this but Hermione didn't piece anything together from it.

They all looked over at Hermione. "Uh," she said hesitantly, unsure what to tell them.

"Hermione darling, did something happen?" her mum asked, gesturing to her hand on her arm.

Hesitantly, she removed her hand from her arm, revealing the ugly scar to the room. There was a collective gasp throughout the room as they saw the horrid words mark up her skin.

"Where did you get that?" her mother demanded angrily. "Who wrote that horrid word on your skin Hermione?"

She felt the tears rush down her face as she looked to an equally angry Harry and Ron. Harry seemed to understand her silent plea and voiced the story to the room of the tortures that occurred in the Malfoy Manor. Blaise placed a protective hand over her arm.

Draco dropped his gaze and spoke silently, "I understand if you want me to leave the room," he said, knowing that they probably wouldn't want him there at the moment.

Hermione's parents looked at him, stunned. "Draco sweetie, we know you aren't responsible for this," her mum told him softly as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

Her dad looked pained to see him sad, "Draco, we explained this to you before. Just because you were raised by bad people who did bad things, does not make you a bad person. I've known you for years, and never once have you truly convinced me that you were capable of doing the things they did. And seeing how much you care about my daughter," he said, gesturing to his hand over hers, "shows me still that you could never be like them."

He looked grateful for their words, but did not raise his head. Hermione, sensing his distraught, leaned in and kissed him gently on the cheek. "Draco, you are not one of them, and you know I never have and never will ever blame you for what transpired that day. You were there trying to protect us by hiding Harry's identity from your family, even though you knew they would kill you if they found out.

He smiled softly at her as Dumbledore spoke once more. "Curious, very curious indeed. I wonder Miss. Zabini, did she somehow have an impact over what happened to you in your dreams last night?" he asked her.

She dropped her gaze as she slowly explained what she saw in her 'dream'. She felt tears stream down her face as she explained what Bellatrix said to her and how she distorted all her memories to make it seem like none of those moments that she cherished and loved ever happened. Once finished everyone in the room was looking at her shocked, as if they could not believe that anything could cause her to doubt their love for her.

Harry was surprisingly the first to answer, "Hermione, please don't tell me you believed any of that. Ron and I love you dearly, and always have. I know we have both been awful gits to you at times, but nothing changes the fact that we love you Hermione. We never would think of you merely of just the brains. In many ways, you are the only reason we aren't dead. We will always be here for you and always support you, so don't ever think otherwise." Ron found himself nodding vigorously at Harry's statement.

Blaise was the next to recover, "Hermione, while you can be strangely odd at times, I never regretted finding out that you existed. I am so happy to have you back and if it were up to me, I would lock you up in a room and never let you leave so I wouldn't lose you," this earned him a glare from Hermione and landed him a slight slap from Daphne. He raised his arms in surrender, "But I know you would never give in to that, so I refrain." He pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her on the top of her head.

Her dad and mum spoke softly to her next. "Hermione we never regret knowing you, now or ever. We are so happy to have you back in our lives, please know that." Hermione smiled brightly at both of them. "I know."

Draco stroked her check softly. "Hermione, to me you are the most beautiful girl alive. Not only because you are gorgeous, but also because you have one of the greatest personalities I have ever seen. I would never want anyone else." She kissed him gently and briefly, knowing that they weren't alone in the room.

"So how had Bellatrix managed to show her those images?" Draco asked Dumbledore.

His lips thinned as he looked at them both grimly. "It is my belief that a very dark, ancient ritual has been placed upon her by magic, and it is not good at all."


	23. Her Brilliant DNA

**Chapter 23**

Dumbledore was pacing back and forth in his study. The group had all moved there after a long and tedious checkup from Madam Pomfery, who had wanted to keep the twins there overnight just in case. After Dumbledore had to use his Headmaster authority to force their release, she had harrumphed and went to go find other patients to tend to. Dumbledore hadn't wanted anyone else to overhear what he was about to tell them in fear that it might get back to the Death Eaters.

Dumbledore hadn't wanted Harry or Ron to leave since the matter was most likely related to them as well, and knew that Blaise was linked by his connection to Hermione. He needed her parents to stay. While both Hermione and Blaise were both adults and able to make their own choices, it was best to keep them involved in the matter. Dumbledore had given Draco the choice to leave, but he knew that the young Malfoy would not leave either Hermione or Blaise alone and be allowed to be out of the loop. Daphne, however was pursued by Blaise to go get some sleep, much to her dislike.

Once the group had settled into his office, Dumbledore spoke out to them. "As you have heard, Miss Zabini had received her scar through a process of dark magic. Magically induced scars can often be used in different methods, as Mr. Potter's was. But this is a different type of magic, while equally as dark. From what you told me about your continuous dreams and the visions you witnessed while unconscious, Miss. Zabini, it is to my understanding that Bellatrix is attempting to form a bond between the two of you. While it is somewhat similar to the one between Harry and Voldemort, this one is purely one sided. She can control your emotions, your dreams and access your thoughts. She can even track your whereabouts directly through this connection," he said grimly.

There was a collective gasp throughout the room at this. Hermione felt herself start to shake at the mention of a connection between her and the woman who almost destroyed Hermione. Draco wrapped his arm around her and brought her closely into his chest. He stroked the arm that was the furthest from his body with the arm around her. Her parents and Blaise looked furious while Harry and Ron began ranting.

"There is no way that bitch is going to hurt my family anymore," Ron yelled out.

Dumbledore nodded, "Mr. Weasley, I understand, but please sit back down. There is more to discuss."

Ron looked reluctant. "Hermione doesn't deserve to ever see her again. Not after the way she tortured her. She's hurt my family so many ties, and almost killed Ginny. I can't have her do anything else."

Harry placed an arm over his friend and sat him back down in his seat, calming him. Hermione smiled at him, grateful to know that he still was protective towards her.

"How was this ritual conducted Albus? Maybe that can give us some sort of insight on what we need to do to prevent anything happening," her mum asked the Head Master of the school.

"She needed two other witches or wizards to have conducted it properly. I have no doubt that she used some of the other Death Eaters that are still on the run. Once gathered they recite an ancient ritual around a fire and each add some of their blood to it. They need to have already had a mark on the person whom they wish to have a connection with for this to have occurred properly," he told the group.

Hermione felt anger rage through the pit of her stomach. Why was it her that this had to happen to? After all she went through during the war, was it too much to ask for her to be able to have a peaceful life where people didn't want to try and kill/ do harm to her? All she wanted was to be able to lead a normal life. But then, nothing about her was exactly normal was it? She, after all, is a pureblood twin who was given away at birth to protect her, who also happened to help with the defeat of the greatest dark wizard of all time. Yup, nothing about that seems relatively normal.

For the first time since meeting them, her parents looked weary of the situation. She could see their ages on their faces. This, while may not seem like much for people of their age, actually was. Since the day she met them, they had been well kept and never allowed a single year over the age of 30 show on their faces. It frightened her to see them looking so old. Blaise looked heavily worn out. While it was around eight in the morning, no one had slept well. Even Hermione and Blaise, who were knocked out, still found themselves wanting to go to sleep.

"Do we have anything to our advantage?" Harry asked Dumbledore, without hope in his voice. The war had taken quite a toll on him, and Hermione knew just how frightened he was to lose anyone else in his life. It wasn't easy, seeing death left, right, and centre during the war.

Much to their disbelief, he nodded. So they had hope! Hermione felt herself feel grow slightly optimistic knowing that all was not lost, even though it wasn't a large amount of relief, it still helped them feel better.

"There is one advantage that we have. Something that Bellatrix doesn't know which renders her plan off slightly. It isn't a huge advantage; we can't go an undo the enchantment. But there is still something we can do to make sure that she cannot have her full affect through the connection," he told the group.

"What is it?" Draco asked the Head Master, eagerness clear in his voice.

"Her DNA," he told the group. "Her DNA is different." And that was when they all looked at him confused.

For a second Hermione was completely sure that he had finally lost his marbles. How did her DNA have anything to do with the fact that she was currently basically under the control of Bellatrix Lestrange? It was a load of bullocks, but she knew that she couldn't come straight out and say that to the most brilliant wizard of all time.

And then it hit her. "Oh Godric!" she proclaimed softly. She knew exactly what he meant. Inside, she was mentally slapping herself for even questioning his sanity.

He smiled at her, "Oh good Hermione, you've figured it out as well," he said warmly.

The rest of the room looked extremely confused still while Ron merely looked disgruntled. "Could you please explain it for the rest of us?" he asked, attempting to keep the exasperation out of his voice. Hermione knew how much it tended to annoy him when people would make silent connections and not explain it to him.

If Professor Dumbledore caught his tone, then he did not seem to mind the exasperation Ron's voice. "Certainly Mr. Weasley," he said calmly. "As you know, eighteen years ago, I personally casted the charm upon Hermione which altered her appearance so that she would not be traced back to her family."

Ron still looked confused, "But what does that have to do with anything?" he asked impatiently.

"Patience Ron," Hermione scolded her friend. "He's getting to that part."

He looked sheepish at this, "Right then, please continue." She noticed Harry stifling a laugh from the corner of her eye and could not help but smile slightly at her friend.

"Thank you Mr. Weasley. As I was saying, I wanted to avoid any trace of sorts. There are certain types of magical tests where by using her blood she easily could have been traced back. So I did not want to place a mere glamour charm on her. Instead, I cast a charm which slightly modified her genetic make up. As you knew, it changed facts about her like her birthday and her physical appearance. What this means was that during the time that the charm was placed on her, she technically wasn't biologically related to the Zabini family," he said.

Harry look astounded, "Professor, that's bloody brilliant of you!" he exclaimed. The others in the room nodded in agreement.

He smiled at Harry fondly, "Thank you Harry. But the part of this that concerns us now also has to do with this. Hermione's make up of genetics truly made her a muggleborn during the time that the charm was cast. Basically she was a different person than who she is now. The things my charm didn't change about her was her mental state. As you know, she is still the same person with the same personality and intellectual level," he paused, making sure they all gripped this vital piece of information.

After they all nodded, he continued, "In essence to this, the person who Bellatrix Lestrange marked that day is not the same as the person here now. If Hermione had been completely changed because of the charm, then the ritual would not have affected her in the slightest. But due to the fact that certain things stayed the same, then the ritual will have a partial effect on her. It won't be able to work to the degree that Bellatrix wants it to, but it still with affect her.

"So what do we do?" her mum asked. She and her father had been so quiet while he explained all of this, that she barely knew what they were making of all of this.

"Well this gives us a wide window of opportunity," he said, winking at Hermione after his use of a muggle saying. She smiled back while the others looked confused. "Because of this, we can also partially cause the enchantment to reverse, so we can see what she is thinking and be a step ahead of her. Of course it would have to be Hermione who did this," he said to the girl.

He dad still looked bothered by this. "Is there no way we can just break off the enchantment so that it no longer affects her?" her father asked him, as Hermione knew her both her parents did not want her tied to that woman any longer.

He looked thoughtful at this suggestion. "I suppose it could be done. However it is a very risky process. If we were to simply reverse the spell so it is cast upon Bellatrix, then we would finally be able to bring her and the other two Death Eaters in. However, Miss Zabini, it is your choice completely. How you want to proceed in this matter is the path we can take."

Hermione weighed her options, "Is there any safe way to break it?" she asked.

His eyes clouded at this, "The only way is for one of the three who cast the spell to die, thus breaking the connection."

She knew instantly what her choice was. "I'll help you capture them all," she said certain of her decision.

Her mum protested. "Hermione, are you sure you want to do this? There are Aurors out there who are supposed to be finding them. Leave it to them and don't worry about it," she said, pleading with her daughter.

Hermione looked at her sadly, but bravely. "Don't you see Mum? I got to do this. She wants me dead, just as she probably wants Harry and Ron as well. If she finds out that it is broken, then she will simply come after me directly. I need to do this and stop her from harming me or the people I care about any further," she said determinedly. She also addressed this to Draco as well, for she knew that he would protest to her putting herself at risk. Both of them looked at her defeated, knowing that they would not be able to change her mind.

"I want to help them then," Draco told the Professor. "I'm not going to just sit back and let anything happen to you Hermione. I'm only going to be okay with this if you let me be with you and not let anything wrong happen," he said, addressing his girlfriend.

She smiled softly at him. "Nothing's going to happen to me, I promise," she said, kissing him softly. He held her tightly in his arms and they looked back at their Professor.

He smiled at all of them. "Excellent," he said, clapping his hands together. "I shall start preparing to reverse this."


	24. Their First Date

**Chapter 24**

Hermione stood in front of her mirror nervously as she wore her hundredth outfit that day. She was worried, extremely worried. And for the first time in the last week it did not have to do with a certain Death Eater out to get her. No, today she was worried for a completely different reason.

"Hermione calm down, and stop pacing," Ginny instructed her. She was currently perched upon the bed and watching her with a slightly amused expression on her face. How anyone could find her current situation amusing was completely beyond her.

Hermione stopped and stared at her feet, as though she hadn't even realised that they had moved from the mirror. She dramatically fell back onto the bed and let out a huge sigh.

"Ginny, it's going to be disastrous! I can't even pick out a simple outfit. How am I supposed to go on this date with him without it somehow messing up? Oh Godric Ginny, what if he decides that I am utterly boring and dumps me?" she asked frantically. Yes you heard right, today was the first official date of Hermione and Draco since they had made their relationship official. And Hermione was absolutely terrified out of her mind.

Her friend got out of the bed and walked over to Hermione's closet. As she sifted through her clothes she spoke to Hermione, "Calm down Hermione. He cares about you, he really does. And if, in the extremely odd chance, that this date went badly, then he won't just stop caring about you," she assured her.

Hermione sighed as she got off the bed. "I know, I just can't help but worry. I've never liked anyone as much as I like him Ginny. I really really like him," she said, for emphasis.

Ginny looked over at her as she handed her a pair of faded jeans and a v-neck sweater. "Do you reckon that you might love him?"

Hermione sighed again as she tried on the outfit in the closet. "I dunno Ginny. How do you know that you love Harry?" she asked, hoping that it would give her a sign on how to decipher her complicated feelings.

"It's not a feeling you can describe. You just know by being with them. He makes me feel extremely happy when he's around. And he treats me like I am the most important thing in the world," she said. As she saw Hermione wrinkle her forehead, she quickly added, "Don't worry Hermione. If you truly do love Draco, then you will know."

She smiled at her friend as she stepped out of the closet. "Thanks Ginny. You really are the best friend a girl could ask for." She did a quick spin in her outfit before facing her friend. "How do I look?"

Her friend smiled at her brightly. "Like you are going to knock the magic out of his pureblood self," she assured her. "Where's he meeting you anyway? It doesn't seem any fun if he's going to simply meet you in your common room."

Hermione smiled at the memory. Draco had wanted to meet in the Great Hall so it gave it more of a first date impression. He told her it would be more romantic and she wholeheartedly agreed. As she told this to Ginny, she squealed before pushing her out the door to go on her date. 'Well here goes,' she thought nervously.

* * *

Draco stood nervously at the steps of the Great Hall. It was their first date today and Hermione and he were going to Hogsmeade. Oh sweet Merlin, what if something wrong happened? He was already rather nervous thinking about what he wanted to tell her, but knowing that she was going to be down here any moment really made him worried.

Harry and Ron were waiting with him. They were both rather reluctant to let Hermione go out with him alone knowing that his crazy lunatic for an aunt was on the loose and more specifically, out to get her. Not to say that it didn't add to the ample amount of anxiety he already felt, but at the moment, it was the last thing on his mind.

He knew that he had nothing to worry about. It was just Hermione. She already knew that he had feelings for her and they _were_ in fact already dating. But something about the idea of a first date made them both rather nervous.

He looked up at that moment to see her petite body grace the stairwell. She was wearing a pair of boots and a coat. He was glad that she was rather warmly dressed, seeing that it was in fact mid-December. As she reached the bottom of the staircase, she smiled at him. Smiling back, he slung his arm around her mid back. They said their goodbyes to Potter and Weasley, before making their way on their date.

After several long, excruciating moments of silence, she turned to him. "Draco, I want to ask you something, and I don't want you to take this the wrong way," she said nervously. He looked over at her to give her his full attention. "Can we just pretend that this isn't our first date?" she asked him.

He must have given her a weird look because she quickly began to speak once more. "I don't mean it in a bad way, I swear. It's just that all the pressure of this being our first date and all is making me completely nervous. And I don't know why exactly that it is, but I feel terrified that I will do something to push you away," she confessed.

He began laughing. Hermione looked a bit sheepish at this. He pulled her into a tight hug and by the end they were both laughing. As he pulled her away slowly, he made sure to hold her in kissing's reach. He stroked a stray piece of hair from her face, pushing it behind her head. "Hermione, the exact same thing was worrying me," he whispered to her. "How about we pretend that this is our millionth date?" he asked her softly.

She smiled up at him, "You know what that means?" she asked him, with a tone of cheek creeping into her voice.

"What?" he asked, looking forward to her answer.

"I don't have to wait for you to snog me," she said, closing the gap between them. She kissed him softly and fervently. He kissed back, not stopping for anything but the occasional breath.

She pulled away, "You know, maybe we should actually make sure we get to Hogsmeade," she teased.

"Forget Hogsmeade," he growled, bring her into another kiss. This one however was far more brief. She pulled out of the kiss and began dragging him by the arm to Hogsmeade. He wrapped his arm around her waist and the two of them walked together to the magical village.

* * *

Hermione sat down in the chair that Draco had pulled out for her before taking his own seat across from her. While they could have gone somewhere like Madam Puddifoot's , that place gave both of them the creep. While they both cared for each other very much, Hermione doubted that they would ever be in that sort of relationship where they comfortable enough going to a place covered with pink and the disgusting sorts of romance.

As Madam Rosemerta came over to take their drink orders, he looked over to her, "Fancy a butterbeer?" he asked his girlfriend.

She smiled at him, "Yes please," she said. She knew that it was a generic drink for the store, but still couldn't help but feel pleased that he knew her well enough to guess what she wanted, but not order for her in case she hadn't wanted.

"Great, two Butterbeers please." As Hermione reached through her bag to pull up a couple galleons to pay for herself, he stopped her by pulling out a handful, "Don't worry about it Hermione, I want to pay for you." She wanted to protest, but knew nothing good would come from it. He was rather stubborn, and always won their arguments about him paying for things.

She was slightly worried about coming to the pub, after all Draco did _Imperius_ the owner. But she had forgiven him due to the circumstances. He told her that he had to completely explain it repeatedly to her to try and earn her forgiveness, but she had agreed in the end.

"It's nice to get out of the school," he commented. "I know we have spent a lot of time together, but its nice for the two of us to be able to be here together Hermione."

She smiled as she placed her hand over his. "I know what you mean. I love spending time with you, but this is definitely nicer than our patrols."

And so the couple enjoyed their first outing together. While they were in the stage of their relationship where they knew a lot about each other, they still didn't know everything. They laughed as they recalled old memories, and they listened to the other tell stories about their life growing up. At one point Hermione grew so angry at listening to the horrors of Lucius Malfoy that Draco had to calm her down so she didn't go straight to Azkaban and kill him herself.

As their conversations grew on, Hermione was sure of one thing. As she thought about what Ginny was telling her earlier, she became very conscious of certain emotions she began to experience.

Draco grew rather quiet suddenly, and Hermione glanced at him. "Draco, are you okay?" she asked her boyfriend.

He looked over to her, "Hermione, I don't want to awkward you out by saying this, but there's something I need to tell you. I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I like you Hermione, I really do. And I need to tell you how I feel-"

Hermione wanted to keep listening to her boyfriend ramble on. She knew that he would eventually get to the point and wanted to know what he would say. But at that moment, much to her dismay, her consciousness was cut off. She knew exactly what was happening from experiencing this before and wanted to warn him. But it was too late.

_Bellatrix stood up in front of the two boys. "Rabastan, Rodolphus, get over here! We have much to discuss if we plan to be ready. We need to make sure that this all goes perfectly and it doesn't help that you useless boys don't get off your lazy arses to help me with this!" she shrieked out to her husband and her brother._

"_So when shall we attack?" her husband asked her. _

"_We want to do this at a time where she shall be out of the walls and defenses of that dreaded castle, but also at a time where she will willingly allow guests into her home," she said, a plan concocting in her evil, twisted mind._

_Rabastan laughed mirthlessly. "And when would the little mudblood ever agree to that? She is not stupid, as we have learned over several occasions."_

_Bellatrix gave him a sly smile. "You forget just who I am," she said as she slung her body over Rodolphus'. "You see, I have one thing that I'm not supposed to. I have these," she said as she held up three invitations reading – _

You are cordially invited to the

Zabini family Christmas Ball

Friday December 26

_None of them seemed to question why Hermione would be at that event. They knew she would be there through her connection, but ruled it out to be based on the fact that she was a 'war heroine'._

_Rodolphus smiled maliciously at his wife as he place a trail of kisses along her neck. "Good. We shall finally be able to place this mudblood where she belongs; deep in the ground."_

Hermione woke up to see Draco kneeling over her worriedly. "Oh thank Salazaar you're alright," he exclaimed when he saw her awake. He pulled her into a tight hug before whispering in her ear so those around them did not hear. "What did you see?"

"They're coming for me Draco. On the night of the Zabini Ball."

* * *

**A/N:** I just wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for reading this story. The amount of positive feedback that I have received is absolutely amazing and you guys inspire me to continue writing. Honestly, I love you all.


	25. A Brief Happiness Amongst The Wait

**Chapter 25**

Theo stared at the fire sullenly. It was Christmas Eve, but in the Nott house it might as well have been a funeral. The house was extremely quiet with the exception for the slight sound of the wind blowing around outside. He was in the library of his house. It wasn't like there was no other room for him to be in, but since the war ended, it was the only place where he felt truly at peace. There was no one there to disturb him in the house, but the books gave him a feeling of presence.

In the past it hadn't been so bad. While his mother had died early on in his life, he still had his father. And while his father could be horrid to him at times, he was still family. Sure it wasn't like Draco who was constantly abused by his father, but that's not to say that Theo never received some of the same treatment from his own father.

It wasn't that Theo hated Draco. But he was slightly envious of him. They had been childhood friends, and they both had similar upbringings. They had also in the end lost the same amount in the war. Both of them were now virtually orphans. So why was it that Draco's life turned out much better than his?

"Because Draco abandoned all his beliefs to fight for what he though was right," Theo thought bitterly. It wasn't that Theo believed in blood superiority. But after listening to something for so long it just becomes a part of who you are. He wanted to change sides as well. He thought about it a lot during the war. But he knew doing that would for sure sever the relationship he had with his father, even if it was a non-existent one.

But Draco still had gotten lucky. People didn't look at him like he was a murder who had gotten out of Azkaban by being lucky. They looked at him like he was a lost soul who in the end had seen the light. And Theo could live with that, he really could. But the fact that he had gotten Hermione as well was what really bugged him. Theo was in no way in love with her. He liked Hermione and found her to be intriguing. She was a mystery to him, one he wanted to solve. And Theo wanted her to himself.

He heard his wards signal an arrival of a guest. While his father had put up strong wards while he lived here, Theo hadn't bothered to take them down. Instead he just chose to change who could visit and who couldn't. Though he knew that it could only be one person coming here to visit him, and that was Pansy.

As he went to the house's main foyer to greet her, he saw her looking around his home. While she had been here before, he had changed it up a great deal since it became his.

"Rather lonely isn't it?" she asked, scrunching her nose in dislike.

He shrugged. "It's home," he said simply.

"Anyways," she said, getting down to business. "I know how to get what we want," she said, sounding proud of herself."

"Oh yeah? And how's that?" he asked, sounding a little sceptical. It had been a while since they had begun to plot without it going anywhere. So for her to suddenly announce that she had the entire thing under wraps was a bit odd.

"We're going into the Zabini Ball tonight, where we are going to get what we want."

"I highly doubt that either of us are on the guest list," he scoffed.

"No, but Hermione and Draco will be allowed in without question right?" she asked slyly.

"And how is that going to help us? It's not like we can make ourselves into them," he said. But then realisation hit him. "But how are we going to do that?"

"With these," she said smugly, holding up a potion in one hand and two separate vials of a strand of hair in each.

* * *

She paced back and forth nervously. They had been planning for this. As soon as she regained her consciousness, they went straight to Dumbledore. They had been preparing for this. As soon as Bellatrix or her brother-in-law and husband entered the house, there would be a silent warning sent off to everyone in charge of her arrest. Draco, Hermione, Ron and Harry all had anti-apparition spells cast upon them so there was no way that they would be able to be apparated out. And the floo network had also been closed for them specifically so they wouldn't be able to floo out unless they wanted to. There was no way it could go wrong. But that didn't help the sinking feeling she had.

"Sit still Hermione," a voice demanded as the ginger yanked another strand of her hair.

"And keep your eyes closed," a dirty blonde directed.

She sighed to herself. If it were up to her, then she would just keep her hair down, throw on a dress and add a hint of lip gloss. But when did she ever get her way? Nope, never. Lavender and Ginny had begged and pleaded her to do something special, but instead of letting her do it herself, they demanded on doing it themselves. After all 'they had more experience with these sorts of things'.

Hermione wanted to protest, but her mum told her that it sounded like a great idea. Cecilia had also looked at her and told her that the ball was a Zabini family tradition and had been happening for years. Cecilia knew it was a dirty trick, to tell Hermione that it was to convince her to dress up, but it had worked in the end. Well for everyone but Hermione.

"So tell us," Lavender gushed. "Has he said it yet?"

Hermione had forgotten how much the two loved to gossip. Thankfully, both of them had held off all their questioning previously. Of course, they had both just arrived this morning to get ready together, but it surprised her that they managed so long.

"Said what?" Hermione asked, squirming in her seat. She knew that they were going to be all over her regardless of how long she prolonged it. Especially now that she knew that she did, in fact, love him.

"You know what," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "Don't avoid it Hermione."

She sighed. "No, but we haven't exactly had a lot of time alone lately. Every day since the Hogsmeade trip, has been spent planning for tonight."

They looked at her sympathetically. "Well, at least you have tonight right?" Ginny asked. "You never know what could happen."

"Yeah," she thought, not sounding too convinced.

They seemed to get it, and let it go. After a couple more moments, the magically turned the chair around so Hermione was now facing her full sized mirror on her wall. As she stood up, she saw how she looked in the mirror. Even at Bill's wedding she hadn't been dressed up this much, but that was due to the fact that she was trying to be practical in case they need to run. So the last time she had dressed up was four years ago at the Yule Ball, and well a lot had changed since then.

"Thanks guys," she told them softly. Both of them beamed at her, pleased that she liked it. She looked over at the wall and saw that it was eight. The ball was supposed to start in another half hour, but her mum wanted her down early.

As if having perfect timing, she heard a knock on the door. "Are you ladies all decent?" she heard Ron call out.

Lavender rushed to the door, holding up her pink skirt so it didn't interfere in her way. As she opened the door she shouted out. "Ron!" she exclaimed, as if she hadn't seen him in twenty years. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him softly.

"Hi," he muttered softly to her. Harry pushed past the kissing couple and gave both Ginny and Hermione a look that said, 'Ah they're at it again'. It was to their great delight that Lavender no longer said things like Won-Won or made out with him every second.

"You look great," Harry said as he reached Ginny.

"Thanks," she said as she did a twirl in her dress. "Where's Draco?" she asked, mainly for Hermione's benefit.

"Right here," a voice said, as it attempted to get past Ron and Lavender. "Seriously do they have to kiss in the doorwa-" he stopped speaking as his eyes landed on Hermione. "Hi," he said softly.

She felt herself grow red. "Hi," she said shyly.

"You look amazing Hermione. You're absolutely beautiful," he told her as he placed a light kiss on her lips.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she grinned as she kissed him back.

Together, the three couples made their way downstairs. As they reached the ballroom, they saw that Dumbledore was already there briefing in Cecilia and Antonio about how the night would go if Bellatrix showed up. He had his arm around her waist, and the pair both looked highly worried about how this was going to go.

* * *

Exactly one hour later, the ball had been in full swing. Hermione stood to the side, sipping a cup of Butterbeer, watching over the room. She didn't know what to expect, and wasn't sure how to enjoy herself when a crazy murder was supposed to be in attendance.

"Hey," a voice said from behind her, causing her to jump.

She looked around to see Draco standing behind her, "Sorry 'Mione, I didn't mean to scare you," he said softly. "What are you doing back here all alone anyway?"

"I was watching for Bellatrix," she admitted sheepishly.

"Hermione, there are people here to take care of that. This is a party, you should relax and have some fun," he told her.

She sighed and looked over at him. He held out his arm and she took it, following him to the middle of the Ballroom.

He placed his arm around her waist, and intertwined the fingers of his other hand through hers. She placed her other arm on his shoulder and they began to dance slowly.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?" she inquired softly.

"My mum taught me when I was younger," he said, not unkindly. She noted this to be the first time he spoke about her without a tone of bitterness, but decided not to press the matter.

There was a brief moment of silence before he spoke.

"You do look very pretty tonight," he told her once more. "I know I've said it before, but you do look absolutely radiant," he said. He looked at her with eyes filled with care and softness.

"You should tell Ginny and Lavender. They'll be pleased that you admire their hard work," she said with a smile.

He chuckled at this. "Hermione, you look beautiful any day, with or without the makeup and the dress. Hell, I'd say you were beautiful if you were wearing those muggle sweatpants that you loved to wear over the holidays," he told her gently.

She blushed again. It seemed that she was doing a lot of that today. "Thanks," she told him.

"For what?" he asked, confused.

"For everything. For being here for me all those nights when I had nightmares, for listening to my endless stories. You put up with me when I was being absolutely barmy without complaining. For caring about me even when I'm a mess," she said, close to whispers.

"Hermione, do you know why I do that?" he asked her softly.

She looked up into his eyes, waiting for his answer.

"I do it because I am absolutely in love with you Hermione. And no one else would make me feel the way you do," he murmured.

She smiled at his words and kissed him softly on the lips. As she pulled away from him she gazed into his eyes, "Oh Draco, I love you too."

He grinned at this, and dipped her down slowly. As he picked her back up, they continued to dance, both hoping that the night would be able to end like this.

But that would be too easy wouldn't it?


	26. Utter Confusion

**A/N:** Reading your reviews, I saw how right some of your guesses were or how slightly off they were. I'm not going to spoil anything by telling you what may or may not happen, so here's the next chapter without any delay.

* * *

**Chapter 26**

Pansy and Theo flooed to the party at the Zabini manor discreetly. Pansy had taken the potion to appear as Hermione, and Theo now looked like Draco. As soon as they arrived, they did their best to blend into the crowd until they could get to a private place. Pansy knew that it wouldn't work if they were wearing different clothing than the person they were impersonating.

They spotted Hermione and Draco, who were dancing closely together on the dance floor. It was rather disgusting, but Pansy knew that it would all change soon. That thought helped her stomach the disturbing sight. Pansy and Theo did their best to memorize what they were wearing before Pansy pulled Theo into a hallway outside the ballroom.

Pansy transfigured her dress to imitate the one Granger was wearing (after all, she wasn't indeed a true Zabini), as Theo fixed his robes as such. Looking pleased with their looks, Pansy gave him a bossy look.

"Remember, we only have one hour before we have to leave this party. We shall meet back here. And if you aren't here, then I will leave you here to fend for yourself," she warned him. She had no intention of getting caught because of him.

He rolled his eyes, "Yes Parkinson, I understand how Polyjuice works," he snapped.

She glared at him. "Just don't mess up Nott. Stick to the plan."

Without another word, Pansy stalked off to go find her prey. She smiled to herself, knowing that by the end of the day Draco would be all hers once more. And if she was really lucky, she would find out just have the Mudblood managed to pull off her little stunt so she can turn her over.

* * *

Draco smiled as he placed another kiss on Hermione's lips. It didn't matter to him that they were in a room surrounded by at least a hundred other people. The only thing that mattered to him was that he was here, with Hermione in his arms. If it were up to him, then he would gladly kiss her until the end of time.

Hermione ran her arms around his neck and he snaked his around her waist. They were mere inches away from each other; close enough that they could feel the body heat of one another. She kissed him back with a smile on her lips. He loved her, and he wanted to be able to love her forever. It didn't matter to him how young they were, he knew that she was the one for him.

As the song drew to an end, he pulled away from her gently. He cupped her face with his hand and he saw her stunning eyes gaze into his. "Would you like me to get you something to drink?" he asked her as he guided her off the floor.

She beamed at him, "That would be nice, thanks," she spoke. She placed a kiss on his cheek before he made his way over to the drink table.

* * *

Theo knew that this was going to hurt Hermione. He knew the minute he went through with this, that it would absolutely kill her. He knew that she loved Draco; hell the entire school knew that she loved Draco. But that wasn't going to stop him. Theo Nott, as righteous as he could be, was definitely not a good person, and everyone knew that. They were sure to tell him every chance they got, that they knew that Theo wasn't a good person. So why not just go along with what they already thought of him? It was way easier than trying to prove them wrong.

He knew that Hermione was watch what he was about to do. The minute Theo entered the room, he confunded Draco to leave Hermione, and he had confounded Hermione so that she would make her way over to where he was now. It was the perfect plan, so why did he feel so guilty.

He growled to himself. It was far too late to be second guessing himself. He was here now, and he was going to go through with this plan. He was going to do this. He had to.

He made his way over to a pretty brunette whom he knew to be Astoria Greengrass, a Slytherin a few years younger than himself. She was only here because of her sister who was off somewhere with Blaise. She was the perfect person to execute the plan with.

"Hello," he greeted the girl as he stood next to her.

She glanced at him, a bit confused as to why he was talking to him. "Hullo Draco," she greeted, a bit cheerful, but mostly wary. "Where's Hermione?" she asked after a second of silence.

"Huh? Oh, she's around here somewhere. Dunno really," he said, trying to off the subject.

"Don't you? She is your girlfriend after all, shouldn't you at least know where she is?" she asked, sounding suspicious.

"Well yes you would think; but no. She's not my girlfriend, we broke up," Theo said, lying through his teeth.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Oh? But you looked so happy with her a few moments ago."

"Well feelings change don't they?" he said, trying very, very hard not to snap at her.

She didn't say anything for a couple moments. He knew that she was trying to figure out just what was happening. He knew he had to act quickly to make sure that he could go on with the plan before she left. He looked around his shoulder slightly, and saw that Hermione was watching him intently. Perfect.

He grabbed Astoria roughly and kissed her on the lips. Her eyes widened in shock as she realised what it was that 'Draco' was doing to her. She struggled in his arms, trying to pull out, but his grip was too strong. Astoria wasn't going anywhere unless Theo wanted her to. He waited for a couple of moments, before releasing her.

As soon as his grip loosened, she pulled away.

"What the hell Draco?" she screeched, as she planted a huge slap across his face. Holding his arm to his cheek, he turned around to see Hermione had already been storming away, and had probably seen the entire exchange minus the slap.

'Perfect,' he thought once more.

He smirked at Astoria, "That was nice babe, but you just don't cut it for me. Don't worry, we can get in the occasional snog in every once in a while," he said, winking at her before walking away. He could practically feel her eyes shooting murder curses at him, but he didn't care. He had already accomplished what he wanted.

* * *

As Hermione stood off to the side waiting for Draco to return, she felt like walking around the ballroom. She wasn't sure why she wanted to, perhaps she simple wanted to take in the gorgeous decorations that her mother had put up, or perhaps she wanted to go and see her friends. But either way, she knew that she wanted to make her way around the room.

She looked around the room, taking in the beauty that it held. Sometimes it still surprised her, how much her life had changed. It wasn't that she loved it that she was now a pureblood opposed to a muggleborn, but for the first time she knew exactly where she belonged. She loved her family, and loved having Blaise as a brother more than anything in the world. He was amazing; he wasn't like the siblings where he would bully his sister for being in another house. Or he wasn't one that held her to unreasonable expectations. No, he was the perfect brother, always caring for her and loving her.

And not to mention Draco. He somehow always knew just what to say, and what was wrong. She loved him, and that's all there was to it.

She looked around the room and caught sight of familiar blonde hair. She smiled to herself, happy to see the man she cared for so much. But something seemed wrong.

Upon closer inspection, she saw that he was talking to Astoria Greengrass. Now there was nothing wrong with that, after all, his best mate was dating her sister. They were bound to know each other. He probably just saw her and decided to stop by to chat quickly.

But then he grabbed her roughly and she knew something was very, very wrong. She wanted to go over there, but she found herself suck in her place. Her feet wouldn't move, no matter how much she commanded her brain to make them.

Draco was kissing her. He was now kissing Astoria. She felt her entire body shake as she saw the sight. She felt her feet release and she ran in the opposite direction.

She didn't understand any of it. How did someone who proclaimed to love her seconds before find themselves kissing another? She didn't understand at all. She was trying to see any reason behind it, but for once in her life, logic had failed her. She continued to walk, as she wiped her tears with the back of her hand. Without looking where she was going, she had run into someone. She looked up and saw the most unlikely person standing in front of her.

* * *

Pansy sauntered off after confirming her plan with Theo. Part of her was worried that this wouldn't go well. If they got caught doing this, then it would not be taken lightly. Before the war, they could have pulled off such a task with only mild consequences, but ever since she had been deemed a slightly reformed Death Eater, she found herself constantly being watched. The Ministry was always checking up on her, making sure she didn't collapse into her old ways. She found it rather annoying, seeing that she was barely a true Death Eater anyway. It gave no freedom to try and even live her life.

But she had one thing on her side. She was a Slytherin, and she was cunning. If anyone could pull off this plan, it was her and Theo. It used to be Draco who was in charge of planning stunts similar to these. After all, one does not become the Slytherin Prince by playing it safe. But now it had all changed. He had become a soft kitten from the sneaky snake he once was, and she could not help but feel extremely disappointed in him.

She waited until she saw Draco leave Hermione. She wanted him to get as far away from her before making her move. While Draco might have been under _Confundus_, it still didn't render him stupid. If he knew that something was off with the situation, then he would be unlikely to believe it.

Pansy waited a few more moments before making her move. She had her target in view and set off after him. She approached an unexpecting Seamus Finnegan the moment his date went off.

"Hello Seamus," she said in a sexy tone. "How are you tonight?" she asked, sitting down in the chair next to him.

He looked extremely confused to see her, but still smiled politely at her. She traced his arm slowly as she spoke again. "I think you were right about what you said before, I do have feelings for you," She told him huskily.

He looked a little alarmed by this. "Hermione, I have moved on since you. I came here with Luna. I've been seeing her for a little while now, and I'm rather happy with her," he said hurriedly. Pansy frowned, knowing that this could serve as a disadvantage, but didn't let it get in her way.

"No matter," she said, waiting for Draco to come into perfect view of her act. "But I've decided I want you Seamus. And you know what? I always get what I want." Before Seamus could react to this statement, she threw her arms around him, kissing him with an exceeding amount of emotion. She saw Draco over Seamus' shoulder, walk away angrily. Mission accomplished.

He pushed her off with disgust. "Hermione, I did not expect this from you! I thought you had morals and standards!" he yelled at her angrily.

"Oh I'm not Hermione," she said with a wink as she sauntered off, leaving one very, very confused Seamus behind.

* * *

Draco dropped the drinks he was holding. He had literally left for a minute and as he turned around, he could not believe what he was seeing.

It hadn't even been five minutes since he told the girl that he was in love with her. He spilled his heart and soul, telling her exactly how he felt, and she told him she reciprocated the feelings. Was it all a lie? After all that time of them dating, was it all some sort of elaborate plan to end up with Seamus, leaving Draco behind like a fool?

Maybe this was her revenge; after all he was horrid to her in their childhood. Maybe this was how she was getting even with him. He wanted to shake his head, and say that Hermione was far better than doing something like that. But standing here, seeing her kissing him, Draco didn't know what else he could think. Nothing else made any sense.

He turned away. There was no way he could watch this any longer. Could you watch the girl you loved kiss another man when you were with her? He thought not. He walked away angrily. He needed to get his rage out somehow, but he wasn't quite sure how he was planning on doing that.

He kept walking, until he ran into a girl crying.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see where I was going," he exclaimed. Upon closer examination, he saw just who it was. "Hermione?" he exclaimed incredulously.

* * *

She looked up to see the boy she was so desperately trying to avoid. "How did you get here?" she demanded to know, her tears coming to a halt. "Shouldn't you be kissing Astoria?" she asked bitterly.

"Shouldn't you be snogging Seamus?" he shot back bitterly.

"What are you talking about?" she asked confused. "Look, you really are immature if you still think I care for him. My answer hasn't changed from before. I don't see him that way, I love you. Even if you do go off snogging Astoria."

He looked perplexed. "I've never snogged Astoria a day in my life," he snarled. "And don't lie, I just saw you kissing him."

"I just saw you kissing her!" she yelled at him.

"Wait, what?" he asked. He knew then that something was definitely up. "What do you mean you saw me snogging Astoria?" he asked.

"You were just kissing her, I saw you," she said sourly.

"Show me." He demanded.

She looked confused, but took him to the spot she just ran from. She had no idea why she was doing this. As they approached the area where she was, to her utter confusion, she saw that Draco was still kissing her. Astoria pushed him away and slapped him. Wait, if he was there, then who was here behind her?

"What the bloody hell?" she heard the Draco behind her curse.

"What do you mean you saw me snogging Seamus?" she asked.

Silently, he brought her to the place where he was, and they saw a Hermione doppelganger kissing Seamus Finnegan.

"What the bloody hell," he heard her curse.

They turned to each other at that point.

"Who are you?" they both asked each other simultaneously, both looking perplexed about what was happening to them.


	27. The Witch Comes and Goes

**Chapter 27**

"Who are you?" They both demanded simultaneously.

"Who do you think I am? I'm obviously the real Draco," he said with a slight drawl.

"Prove it," Hermione commanded. There was no way she was going to accept him as the real one until he did or said something that only her Draco, the real one, would know. "When was the first time we shared a bed?" she asked. Any other person would take this the wrong way, but the real one would know the true events of that night.

"Real kinky aren't we," he teased. She raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to answer. Rolling his eyes, he answered the question at hand, "You were having nightmares about the day in the Manor, so I comforted you by holding you until you fell asleep. After you did, I left and went back to my room."

She was happy to hear this. He was her Draco. She went to go throw her arms around her, but he pushed her away. Hurt, she looked at him, "What was that for?" she asked.

"Just because you've established that I'm the real Draco doesn't mean I know that you're my Hermione," he said. There was no warmth or coldness to his voice. It was in a monotone, trying not to show any of the emotions he was feeling.

She rolled her eyes at him, "Really Draco? How else would I know when we shared a bed?" she asked him.

"You could have just asked without knowing the answer. It doesn't prove anything. Now Hermione, time for you to answer my question; what was the first thing you said to me when you saw me at your house?" he asked.

"I asked you what you were doing 'here', rather coldly too, I do believe. And even when Blaise told me you were his guest, I didn't buy it completely until you apologised. Of course after that I was still sceptical about you, until that day in the library. That was the day I began to truly know you as a different person," she said, scrunching her nose at the thought of the memory.

He laughed. "You always were the over achiever weren't you, with all your answers always exceeding what was asked," he said, bringing her into a tight hug.

"I'm glad you didn't cheat on me," she whispered. She felt relieved to know that it hadn't been him who did it, but someone else.

"I'm glad you didn't cheat on me too," he said with a smile. Pulling apart, they looked at each other, realization dawning upon them.

"So if we are us, then who was impersonating us?" Draco asked curiously.

She raised her eyebrows, clearly having similar thoughts as him. They looked over their shoulder to see the other Hermione wander away from Seamus. He was staring after her confused as Luna came up to him, holding a drink in her hands.

Draco and Hermione looked at each other, before rushing after the other Hermione.

Draco was faster than she was, naturally seeing that he had to often train intensely due to Quidditch. He was a lot closer to her than she was, and if anyone could reach the imposter, it would be him. The other Hermione was standing by the fireplace, clearly waiting for someone to reach her.

When she saw Draco approach, she looked pleased, obviously thinking that he was the imposter Draco. Since Hermione was further away from them, she didn't see her.

She slowed her pace, knowing that they were going to reach her. She was drawing a little bit of attention to herself, and wanted to avoid that as much as possible. The last thing she wanted was for people to notice who she was running towards. That would cause complete chaos, and chaos was never good. Especially since such a mess would be effective to Bellatrix, whenever she decided to show up.

* * *

Bellatrix stood by her fireplace, going through the things she had placed in her bag for their mission. She had cleaned up her usually dirty look nicely; dressed in a formal dress and her hair up in a bun, she looked almost formidable.

"Don't mess up," Rodolphus told her as she reached into the cup of floo powder on the top of the dusty fireplace. They had moved their station to the Shrieking shack, as it would be easier to floo from

She smiled crookedly at him. "I'm the brains of this operation, if anyone was to mess up, then it wouldn't be me," she said nastily. His lips twitched at her. This was the sort of relationship the pair shared over their married life. They were never one for love, other than the kind that involved their love for blood purity and status. But for them it was enough to build a solid foundation for marriage.

She flooed to the Zabini manor; and saw it exactly as she knew it would be. The party was in full swing, and no one who saw her would guess it was her. If someone were to ask, she would simply say that she was Andromeda Tonks and yell slightly at them for mistaking her identity. Oh how it helped for her to have a sister she was almost identical to.

"Confundus Maxima," she said with relish. The sooner these people became oblivious to the activities that were about to happen, the better.

Bellatrix looked around the room, to try and spot her prey. She expected it to be rather difficult to find Hermione, after all, she was probably somewhere near the Ballroom. And that would mean having to go through all the happy dancing couples. She shuddered at the thought; oh how she dreaded happy people. They were forever cheery over the weirdest thoughts. Why waste their energy on emotions such as love and happiness? It only clouded their judgement over the emotions that were necessary for survival.

To her great pleasure, she saw the girl she needed not too far from where she was standing. She floated her way over to the Mudblood in a manner her sister would use when approaching someone. She wanted to writher in horror, but she knew it was something she needed to do to accomplish her task.

"Hello there Hermione, I haven't seen very much of you lately," she said sweetly. She felt like gagging.

The scum looked over at her, "Oh hello there," she said, rather distractedly. She was looking in another direction. "If you excuse me, I need to go meet that boy over there."

The trash tried to make her way away from Bellatrix, but was stopped by a hand over her shoulder. "You aren't going anywhere sweetheart," she snarled.

The girl looked back up at her alarmed. "What are you doing?" she demanded to know.

A boy made his way clearly into her vision, and was not oblivious to the events as the rest of the guests seemed to be. "Let go of her Bellatrix. She's not the one you want," he snarled.

Her face twisted into a disfigured smile. Well wasn't this interesting turn of the fates. "Hello there Draco. I see you've become quite the blood traitor in my sister's absence, now haven't you?" she said, slowly making her way back towards the fireplace.

He rushed towards them. "Bellatrix, I'm warning you, she's not the one you want!" he yelled.

The girl looked scared, just as she should. Of course Draco didn't want his aunt to take the girl. Like the rest of society, the Mudblood had managed to enchant him under her wicked spell. No matter, soon she would be dead and he would be released. He would thank her of course, but first, she needed to escape.

"Fumos," Bellatrix screeched. There was a light fog; enough for her to escape without her nephew knowing.

Stepping into the fireplace, she dropped the floo powder, causing both her and the heavily squirming mudblood to arrive at their destination.

* * *

Draco was fuming mad. He was so close to reaching his _aunt_. He was so close to ending the entire thing for Hermione forever, but he had to go and mess it up didn't he. Was it too much to ask for a plan to go perfectly? All he needed was for one thing to go the way he wanted it to.

The real Hermione, came rushing up to him, panting slightly. Meanwhile, the rest of the guests of the party seemed just as oblivious as they were before. No one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. Well, at least that was one good thing, wasn't it?

"What just happened?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Bellatrix came here, confounded everyone, grabbed the other Hermione, called me a blood traitor, and then flooed away like nothing happened," he said through gritted teeth, still trying to process his own words as he spoke.

"This isn't good," she said worriedly.

Well they lost both their chance to find out who was attempting to break them up, and catch Bellatrix in one go. As if the night couldn't get any worse.

Hermione's eyes widened up slightly. "Draco, there's still two of you!" she exclaimed.

He looked up at her at this. At least they would be able to know who Bellatrix had grabbed. They would have to worry about tracing her as well, now that she had someone else in her custody.

The other Draco walked up toward the fireplace, looking to meet his Hermione. Draco saw the shock dawn upon his face as he saw the pair of them together. He turned to walk in the other direction, but it was too late for him to do so. Draco grabbed him by the collar and dragged him off to a secluded area.

"Hermione, go get Dumbledore," he said through a growl.

"No," she stated simply.

He looked up at her, astonished that she would choose now to try and lecture him about bossing her around. "Look, Hermione, now isn't the time for that. Just go get him please," he said softly to her.

She looked at him kindly, "It's not that Draco; it's just that it could get rather confusion to have two of you in a room. At least this way, we'll know who you are."

He knew she was right. He wanted to protest, saying that he didn't want to leave her in the room alone with him. What if he hurt her when they were alone? But she was smart, and she had been on the run with Ron and Harry. You don't simply go on the run with someone without learning a couple ways to protect yourself. Making sure her wand was out and pointed at him, he turned to go find Dumbledore and Harry.

He spotted them together, out by the ballroom. Harry looked extremely worried, as if he knew that something bad should have happened by now. Little did he know just how right he was.

As Harry saw him approaching, he looked absolutely enraged. "How could you leave her all alone? What if Bellatrix comes any moment and snatches her up without any of us knowing?"

"Bellatrix is gone," he said simply, and filled them in on the events that occurred in such a miniscule time frame.

Harry was enraged at this, "And you still left her alone with some wizard pretending to be you?"

"She is rather capable Potter, more so than either you or me," he stated calmly.

Dumbledore looked rather perplexed at this, and asked him to lead him to where the imposter was.

As Harry saw the other Draco, he immediately drew his wand and held it up to the neck of the boy, "Who are you?" he yelled out.

* * *

'Draco' sat there, remaining silent. He looked at the ground, as if it would protect him from speaking. Theo knew that his hour was almost up, and that Pansy would probably just leave without him. If there was one thing she was, it was true to her word. If she said she would leave, then she was most likely already gone, leaving Theo to clean up the mess.

"I'm going to ask you one more time; who are you?" Potter yelled out again.

Theo didn't need to answer, seeing that his features began to morph back to their original state. The occupants of the room stared at him in shock.

"Nott?"


	28. What Happens to Bad Girls?

**Chapter 28**

Pansy was kicking and screaming every step of the way. This was not how it was supposed to happen. She was simply supposed to go in there, snog Seamus, then get out. It was really so simple; so how did it turn out so wrong?

"Stop it please I beg you," she begged the woman. "I'm not who you think I swear. I'm one of you!" she pleaded, hoping that they would understand. Of course she wasn't really, but she hoped that once they learned who she really was, then it would be enough to get her out of there.

She knew who they were, as she had met them during the few Death Eater meetings she had been forced to attend. These people were Draco's aunt and uncles. They were not the most pleasant bunch of people to have to see.

She crackled. "Of course you are Mudblood. You are the exact person we want," she said with a sneer.

She tried to tell them who she was. Through the whimpers of the curses placed upon her, she tried to muster out her true identity. Oh why couldn't this potion wear off any sooner?

"So now what?" one of the men, Rabastan, asked the others. "When can we get our hands on Potter?"

Rodolphus sneered at him, "Patience my brother. We need to keep her long enough for a panic to arise amongst the people. They need to notice their precious Mudblood princess is missing before we send for Potter and the blood traitor," he said. She knew that they were referring to Weasley as the blood traitor. But their plan wasn't going to work, not if it was Pansy they had captive, and not indeed Hermione as they intended.

She whimpered on the cold hard ground. Where was she anyway? The room was filled with tattered furniture and scratches marked the walls. If she didn't know any better, she would have assumed the room was once occupied by a wild animal.

"So what do we do with her?" Rabastan asked, looking like a kid who was told to wait until Christmas for his present. The thought was revolting to Pansy.

Bellatrix tied a gag around her mouth with a flick of her wand. Making her stand up with Bellatrix's wand against her neck, the witch brought her to a secluded room. She didn't have her wand on her, as it had been the first thing they had taken from her upon her arrival.

Pansy watched as the door closed, and half a dozen spells were cast upon the room. She knew that a single spell would have been penetrable by Hermione, but Pansy was never as smart as her anyway.

She let out a silent sob. Was it really worth it, being stuck here with three crazy fugitives who clearly thought that she was someone who she wasn't?

She knew her answer immediately: No. She didn't love Draco, or anything close to it, she realised now. It was expected for them to marry when they were younger, and she had grasped on to that thought over the years. It gave her security, knowing she hadn't had to worry about things such as love. She had that all nicely secured for her, and she had gotten attached to that notion. But then the war came and went, and it was clear that Draco did not care for the security as she did. He had gone and found Hermione, and they fell in love.

Thinking back on it now, she knew that there was no way Hermione could somehow manage to masquerade herself as a pureblood. It was something you either were, or you weren't. She felt a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time: regret. Her father had told her at a young age never to feel regret. If she was to have done something, then regardless of whether it was right or wrong, she was to believe it was right with all her heart. Regret was an emotion for the weak, she was told. It was something she should not feel. So perhaps that was why she was surprised to feel that old emotion emerge from beneath her surface.

She was selfish, and she knew that. She had gone to the ball tonight with every intention of ending the relationship between Hermione and Draco so she could have him to herself. If that didn't say selfish, she didn't know what did. She felt bad, and hoped that the two of them would be able to work it out. They were good together, and while she hated it, she knew it was true. She shouldn't have gone tonight.

She felt her body change back, and knew she was in her own skin once more. Pansy wanted those Death Eaters to come back into the room and see who she was. She wanted them to realise that they had made a mistake, but she knew it wouldn't happen. As far as they were concerned, they had grabbed the right one, and nothing would change that notion. By time they realised she wasn't who they wanted, they would probably just kill her; after all, she would then be a liability.

No one would come for her, and that thought depressed her. She wanted someone to worry about her, but she knew there was no one who cared. Theo probably got out safe, and probably thought nothing of what had happened. And when Harry and his friends got the note about her being kidnapped, they would simply laugh. After all, Hermione was safe and sound.

She whimpered softly. For once in her life, she realised that even blood purity and money could be rendered completely useless if one did not have someone who cared about them. She wanted someone to be there for her, to care about her and to love her.

Pansy knew it was a ridiculous notion; neither of her parents cared about anything other than making sure the blood purity of their family was safe. But there was one person who she found herself longing for. She was almost shocked as she first felt the emotion of her wanting him so badly that it felt like she was going to burst. She didn't even know she felt like this until it came and hit her so suddenly. Nowhere along their meetings over the last month had the feeling once emerged. It wasn't until she was held hostage and headed towards the path of death that she realised that the person she wanted to see more than anything was none other than Theo Nott.

* * *

Hermione found herself steading herself in Draco's arms as she listened to his tale. It was beyond her why anyone would go through such difficulty simply so that they could break apart a couple. Was it really that bad that Hermione was happy with Draco and wanted to be with him? She noticed that Draco's face with twisted with anger, and she knew he had similar thoughts running through his mind.

Harry was pacing back and forth and she knew he was worried. He knew what could have happened to Hermione, and he had done everything in his power to make sure nothing happened to Hermione. She knew that he hated any sort of emotion distress that happened to Hermione, mainly because she felt the exact same way towards him. She also knew that he was doing everything in his power not to snap at the Slytherin in the chair before them.

However, Draco on the other hand had other ideas about how he wanted to handle the situation.

"Do you have any idea what happened because of you and Pansy?" Draco snarled at his housemate. "Do you know what you wrecked, after weeks upon weeks of planning?"

Theo looked down. They had yet to inform him why it had been imperative that tonight had gone well, and what was now in jeopardy seeing that Pansy had been taken captive.

She placed her arm to comfort him. He took a deep and stepped back. He placed a protective arm around her waist as if to say, 'yes, we are still together after everything that you did, no thank to you.' She rested her head against his shoulder, and she felt his heartbeat begin to slow. She knew she was getting him to calm down, and she was relieved by this.

Dumbledore began to explain what it was that was supposed to happen today, and what happened now due to their uninvited presence. Hermione had never seen a boy's face pale as quickly as Theodore's did once he realised the danger that his accomplice was now in.

Ron had been getting all the other Aurors who were still scattered around the ballroom, and brought them into the private room they were now in.

Dumbledore looked around the room, making sure that everyone was now gathered, with the exception of a few Aurors. He had sent a few down to the Floo office. They hadn't been able to have closed the network because people needed a convenient method to arrive to the party. On top of that, they also needed Bellatrix to get here; since the Golden Trio and Draco had spells cast upon them, making them unable to use the floo without their consent, they hadn't seen any harm. As they gathered, the other Aurors were currently trying to figure out who had flooed out of the house and where they had gone.

Once satisfied, he spoke, "As you are now all aware of the situation, we must discuss what it is that we do now. While people are tracing the floo, it could take a while, so we need other options."

Draco was the first to speak, "I say we should just leave her there. It's her own fault for meddling in matters that didn't concern her, and this will teach her a lesson for doing this. It's none of her business what Hermione and I choose to do with our lives," he said angrily.

Dumbledore merely nodded at his situation without coming out and disapproving as she knew that he would. "While that is one answer, it could lead to dire consequences, such as her death." Draco slumped at this, knowing that he was right, as much as she disliked the idea.

They all began talking at once, each trying to figure out different things that they should do to prevent the death of someone so young and misguided. There were many disagreements. A few even sided with Draco.

"We have to rescue her," Hermione said after a while.

Everyone looked at her. "And how do you plan on that Miss. Zabini? In case you haven't noticed, we don't exactly know where they are," the Auror sneered at her.

Dumbledore's eyes flickered with interest at this. "On the contrary, there is someone here who may be able to find out where exactly they are," he said, looking pointedly at Hermione.

She felt worry rush through her. "But Professor, I don't know how to control the channel so I can see into her mind yet," she said hurriedly. She also knew that they were going to be disappointed in her, even she was. It was the one chance they had of finding Pansy and capturing the Death Eaters, but here they were, unable to do so, because she couldn't do it.

Draco wrapped both his arms around her waist, and she felt some of her fears melt away.

Dumbledore however, didn't look down. "Miss. Zabini, you are the most talented student in the school. I have no doubt that if anyone is able to do this, then it is you." When he saw that she still had scientism written all over her face, "Just look deep into your mind Hermione."

She tried, and for several moments nothing happened. She wanted to act as a child and throw everything down in protest, saying that there was no hope, but she knew that she couldn't do that. So reaching as far as she could and pushing to her limits, Hermione tried to open her connection. Finally she hit something.

Looking at the people in the room, she spoke, "I know where they're holding Pansy, and they don't suspect a thing."


	29. Playing Her Luck

**Chapter 29**

Theo watched as Hermione searched through her connection with Bellatrix to find out where Pansy was. He felt ashamed to think that she had ditched him, when in reality she had been kidnapped by a madwoman. But to be fair, it's not like that was a possibility that was on the top of the most realistic.

"She's in the Shrieking Shack."

Those words were enough to send the inhabitants of the room flying out the door to the nearest fireplace. Theo couldn't help but feel slightly relieved as he knew that the safety of Pansy was looking a lot better than it had been previously.

* * *

Bellatrix smirked at the two men in the room. Rodolphus was busy entertaining himself by hexing the rodents that were loose around the room, causing them to bleed and to wither, while his brother was snoring on a bed that was held together by strands. In just a couple more hours the wizarding world would be in shambles. Soon, very soon would she be able to give the Purebloods of the world their rightful place. She would be able to complete what the Dark Lord had been able to do. Victory was so close, that she could almost taste the sweet scent of the blood bath that was about to occur. She needed this; she wanted this so badly.

She traced the scratches that a table in the room held with her long, dirt filled finger nail on the table as she slid her way around it. As she reached a piece of filth, she flicked a piece of dirt. The dirt hit Rabastan in the face, waking him from his state of slumber. He sat up instantly and gave her an intense glare.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" he growled as he stood up. He gave her an intense look, one that might have scared her, had she been anyone else.

She crackled a laugh at him before answering, "Go check on the prisoner Rabastan. We don't want her to have escaped on us, now do we?" she sneered at him.

Rabastan looked over at his brother, hoping he would tell his wife to do it herself. Rodolphus merely shrugged and said, "Go check on the mudblood."

In a normal pureblood household, she would have been told against giving orders to the men of the household. It would have been her doing all the dirty work while they concocted up schemes and plans for her to follow. After all, it was the job of women to be seen and not heard; or was that children? She could not remember for the life of her, not that it mattered, seeing that the Lestrange household was not ordinary. And it was not one where the men had enough brains to pull anything off, much less a scheme to bring the 'great' Harry Potter to his knees.

He made his way toward the door, huffing and stomping as a child. Bellatrix rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her unruly, heavily knotted, hair. She twirled it slightly, humming an old song her mother had sung to her at night. It had something to do with blood purity and extinguishing the weak and inferior, and it always helped her sleep.

She heard an angry shout from bellow and two pairs of footsteps making their way back into the room; actually it sounded like someone was being dragged back while the other was walking back fast. What had happened now?

The door was pushed open, and Bellatrix could not believe her eyes when she saw the young Parkinson girl in front of her. What the bloody hell?

* * *

Pansy was thrown onto the hard, cold floor of the room. The three dark wizards were standing above her, trying to figure out how they messed up. Pansy disliked them, and knew she wanted nothing to do with whatever they were planning.

She had determined that during some of the time she had to herself. She realised then that she didn't believe what she had learned. What indeed was blood and status, if you had no friends or anyone to love? All those things were meaningless, and didn't matter much. She also realised how wrong it was for her to have believed these things. Her mind probably changed somewhere around the time when she realised that she was going to die once they found out who she was. It didn't matter how pure her blood was, or what she believed in. She wasn't Hermione, and for that they would kill her.

Funny how being in a life threatening situation can change someone's beliefs about everything you have ever known.

Pansy may not be the top in her year, but she was still a Slytherin; and that meant she was cunning and sly. While she may not be able to get out of here, she could still prolong her life. If they found out that she was somewhat useful then they would be willing to keep her alive so they could get more important information out of her. The more useful she was, the longer she could live. So now, no matter how much she detested them, she needed to pretend to be useful, and pray to Merlin that someone would come for her and save her.

"Parkinson, why are you here?" Bellatrix asked, looking down at her. She looked bloody furious, like she was about to blow up.

"I t-tried to tell you that I'm not Hermione, but you wouldn't l-listen to m-m-me," she stuttered out, trying to sound as scared and helpless as possible. The weaker they thought she was, the less they would believe that she was a threat. And that was just what she needed them to think.

Rodolphus looked livid. "Crucio," he snarled, sending Pansy through a journey of pain. While she had seen the spell placed upon many other people, she had never once experienced it herself. She cried out, whimpering on the ground. She was unable to move; as she felt her body lock up from the spell.

He looked like he wanted to give her a second helping of the spell, but luckily for her, Bellatrix stopped him.

"Well why in the name of Morgana did you look like her?" She roared, as she sent sparks flying out of her wand.

Pansy winced and knew she could be at the end of that wand if she wasn't smart enough with her answers. "I used Polyjuice potion to become her. How was I supposed to know that you were going to choose last night to go after her? I was merely sticking to my own agenda, which you happened to ruin," she said dryly, trying to sound as cold and frustrated as she was able to muster out.

They looked slightly interested, "And why would you be after the Mublood," Rabastan sneered harshly. She knew that he wouldn't believe her if she tried to lie. So why not tell the truth, with a slight twist of course. These people obviously didn't know that Hermione was indeed a pureblood, but Pansy would just keep that knowledge to herself for the time being.

"Because she wrecked my life," Pansy screeched out, trying to sound as much as a teenage girl as she could.

They looked at her questioningly. Bellatrix looked particularly interested, "Oh, and how did she manage such a feat?"

Pansy knew that she had seen Draco, and knew that Draco and the real Hermione must have had something together. "She stole my Draco from me," Pansy wailed. "She used her stupid mudblood charms to lure him away from me and placed some sort of curse on him. Tonight was supposed to change all of that. I was supposed to go to the ball as Hermione, while I had her locked away somewhere, and kiss every guy in the room. That way, he would see her as the true whore she really is and he would leave her for me!" she pretended to sob, as she told a half lie.

"Well, that's one way to wreck her life," Rodolphus managed finally. He had a look in his eyes, making it seem like he was trying to figure out how someone was able to be so childish with their tactics.

Rabastan looked at his sister-in-law, "Well?" he demanded. "Is she telling the truth?"

Pansy felt Bellatrix attempting to use legilimency on her mind, trying to probe all the corners and see if she was hiding away any secrets, "Oh no you don't," Pansy thought to herself. There was no way this witch was accessing her most private thoughts. While Pansy wasn't good at most of Hogwarts' subjects, if there was one thing she was skilled at, it was blocking away her mind. She created a wall, and placed the memories that had to do with what she told them. She also placed up a few irrelevant, harmless memories so they wouldn't suspect anything. She hoped they hadn't at least.

Bellatrix looked pleased, "The girl speaks the truth," she said.

Pansy sighed inside, with relief. They would have killed her off right away if they had the slightest amount of doubt in them. The two wizards seemed to accept this answer.

"So what do we do now?" Rabastan snarled. "We have a prisoner that is no good to us, and we still don't have Hermione Granger. Bellatrix, you promised us that this plan wouldn't fail, yet here we are, without the same leverage we had just a few hours ago."

Bellatrix looked furious with him, "At least I had a plan," she gnarled back.

"And look what good that did us you stupid woman," he said, raising his voice for the first time since Pansy had gotten in their custody. He appeared much scarier when he was angry. Pansy would hate to be on the wrong side of his wand.

"Don't raise your voice at my wife," Rodolphus said coldly to his brother. Turing to his wife he spoke, in an equally cold manner, "You better have a way to fix this," he said harshly.

She looked hopeless for a moment. For the first time since Pansy had known her, Bellatrix looked like she had no clue what she was going to do. Then her eyes lit up with a wicked gleam and she looked at Pansy.

"You girl," she said to Pansy. "Tell us everything you know about the Mudblood," she demanded.

Pansy knew what she was going to tell them. "Well, she is dating Draco, and they are the _it _couple of Hogwarts. It's rather annoying actually. They're just so cute together, and it makes me want to vomit. They're always sitting in the halls, snogging each other senseless, which make no sense at all. I mean they have their own Heads room, so why not use it. Really, it's common manners," she said, scrunching her nose, trying to look disgusted.

Bellatrix looked at her exasperated. "Can you tell us something that doesn't have to do with my blood traitor of a nephew," she asked.

Pansy pretended to look thoughtful about this, "But he isn't a blood traitor," she said, trying to pretend to figure out what they meant.

She looked furious, "Of course he's a blood traitor," she spat out.

Pansy pretended to look confused, "But don't you need to be with a mudblood or half-blood to be a blood traitor?"

"Your point?" Rodolphus asked, sounding impatient.

Pansy pretended to have realisation dawn upon her, "Oh sweet Salazaar, you don't know?" she asked incredulously.

"KNOW WHAT?" Rabastan exploded, obviously frustrated with her act.

"It was all over the Daily Prophet for the longest time. Turns out Hermione is a pureblood and she had some spell altering her DNA cast upon her. Yeah, she's really a Zabini, given away for her protection. Rather funny story isn't it? The famous mudblood, actually the purest of her group," she said, like it was the weirdest thing she'd ever heard. Truth be told, she did think it was rather strange when she first found out.

The colour drained from Bellatrix's face. "We need to get out now," she said, shouting.

Rabastan looked confused, "What, why? What does a bit of blood mean for anything?"

"You fool, the spell was only sound as long as she was the same person as she was when I left the mark. Her DNA's been altered, meaning she can reverse the curse and trace us back here. We need to get out now," she yelled.

Realising her words, they ran towards the fireplace. But it was too late for them. The floo glowed green, and a handful of Aurors were in the room. They were trapped without escape.

For the first time since she had been kidnapped, Pansy believed she had a fighting chance to get out of here alive.


	30. The Fight

**Chapter 30**

Hermione flooed to the Shrieking Shack. She was in the second batch of people to floo there, along with Draco and Blaise. Harry had been the first to go, and no one tried to stop him. However, people held more reservations about letting Hermione go into the area where there would the people who wanted her dead would be. She however, was not willing to give in to their demands. Hermione wanted to go back, she needed to. She needed one last chance to face her worst nightmare so she could finally move on from it. She also knew that she would probably forever regret it if she didn't.

As she stepped into the mansion, there were spells flying in all directions. There were about ten Aurors set against the three dark wizards. While it was a lot of people for only three fugitives, they knew better than to underestimate them.

The room had not changed since she had been in it in third year. She assumed it had been because no one else had dared to enter, still believing in the myths the room held. Well, no one, except the people she was here to help apprehend.

Hermione dodged behind a battered chair as she surveyed her surroundings. She knew it wasn't wise to go into a fight without observing what was happening around her. However, she also knew that she would need to be quick. She looked around and saw that five of the Aurors that had arrived were currently down, both stunned, and killed; including the one that was so quick to mock her earlier. She felt sadness rush through her, but knew that now wasn't the time for that. There would be plenty of time for remorse later.

She also saw Pansy in a corner. She had been Petrified, so she was unable to move. Hermione figured that one of the Death Eaters had done it to her earlier. She wanted to undo the spell, but right now it was keeping her safe and out of the line of fire; so Pansy would have to stay like that for now.

Harry was currently fighting off Rabastan, while Blaise and Draco were together battling Rodolphus. The other five Aurors were trying to restrain Bellatrix.

Hermione left her corner and kept her wand ready. One of the Aurors saw that Harry was having a bit of difficulty and began to help him.

"Avada Kedevra," Hermione heard Bellatrix bellow and she broke into maniacal laughter. She looked to see who had been hit by the Unforgivable Curse, and saw that it was another Auror down. That left them now with four Aurors and four teenagers. The odds didn't look very good. Where was Dumbledore when they needed him?

Rabastan was currently yelling curse after curse at Harry, who was able to dodge them and deflect them. He sent back quite a number back, but they were not doing any good. Blaise had gotten close to having an opportunity to silently hex Draco's uncle while Draco was occupying him with curses, but had been caught at the last moment.

"Well if it isn't Hermione Zabini, girl of many names and faces," the cold voice that gave her nightmares for months upon end, taunted. She turned to see Bellatrix causally hex two Aurors out of the way, like they were made out of clay or something.

She hardened immediately. A part of her wanted to into a corner and rock herself back and forth. She wasn't quite sure what she would have been expecting, seeing the woman who taunted her and tortured her, for the first time since it had all happened. But she knew one thing. She wasn't about to go off cowardly and sit in the corner. No, she was going to fight this witch and show her that Bellatrix Lestrange had no effect on either Hermione Granger or Hermione Zabini.

"Hello there Lestrange, long time no see," she said coolly. She was no longer afraid of the woman who stood in front of her. The only emotion she had coursing through her veins was the desire to bring her down. She would be in Azkaban by the end of the night, and Hermione was going to personally see to that.

"Going by the name Zabini now I hear," she crackled. "Decided that you've had enough of your filthy muggle parent did you? Well I don't blame you. When you are as pure as you are, why settle for anything less? I wouldn't."

Hermione snarled at the woman in front of her as the other Auror on Bellatrix was constantly trying to get in spells. Not that it did him much good. Bellatrix was warding off all the spells that he threw at her with a simple flick of her wrist.

"Do not call them that!" she yelled at the madwoman in front of her. "I don't care if they aren't my biological parents. You will not treat them like they are filth. They are a hundred times the person that you could ever dream of being." She added, "Not that I expect someone as cold as you to understand. I bet you've never felt a day of love in your life have you? No, the only person you ever loved was your precious Dark Lord. Didn't you know he was a half-blood? What does that say about you?"

Bellatrix was enraged at this. "Do not speak of him that way. Even in his death, he still was the greatest wizard to walk the face of this earth!" she gnarled out.

"Not so great if Harry Potter could beat him with a single disarming spell, now was he?" she taunted, knowing completely that it would only anger the witch further. She hoped to provide enough of a distraction for the Auror to get in a good disarming curse.

However, Bellatrix had other plans. "Stupefy ," she said boredly, and the Auror was stunned on the floor. She felt herself back up slowly. Harry, Draco and Blaise were standing beside her, as the four of them faced the three Dark wizards they had come to apprehend. Ten Aurors had come with them, meant to stop them; and the four teenagers were meant to serve merely as back up. But now the ten were out, and the teenagers were left facing the Death Eaters. What chance did that give them?

"Give up Hermione, you know that you've lost. Why else would your precious Dumbledore send you here without coming himself? He knew that it was a lost cause and didn't want to risk his own life over something he saw was inevitable. We **will** win this, and we will give the Purebloods what they deserve. Harry Potter will die in this room Hermione," she said in a cruel voice.

Draco snarled, "Not if I can help it."

Rodolphus laughed at his nephew, "You know your aunt is right Draco. Why deny what will happen? We will however forgive you and your traitorous ways if you join us now. Join us and soon we can get your father and mother out of Azkaban. We can be a family again Draco. The Malfoys and the Lestranges will rule this new era and world. Don't you want to be a part of that? Don't you want to be back on the top of the world?"

Draco sneered, "The Malfoy name has had wonders done to it now that my mother and father are gone. People respect me, not out of fear and bribery, but because I deserve. The assests that Father left me have been skyrocketing, and the fortune is higher than ever. So forgive me when I say that there is very little that you can offer me." He sent a curse at his uncle, but he blocked it off as if it were childsplay.

His uncle sighed sadly. "I don't know where Lucius and Narcissa went wrong with you. They did everything in their power to raise a nice respectable boy who followed in the paths of his ancestors. But instead they ended up with an ungrateful son like you."

Draco laughed coldly, "I'm glad I turned out the way I did. I don't care if they are ashamed to have me as a son, but I know that I am more than ashamed to have them as parents."

"Take that back, you ungrateful brat," his aunt hissed, as she tried to curse him. Draco, using the same mechanics of his uncle a few seconds prior, blocked the hex easily.

Bellatrix turned to Hermione, with a look of persuasion in her eyes. "Hermione, you must feel some sort of resentment inside of you. I can only imagine what it was like for you. Being lied to all of your life about your blood status and being made to think that you are far less than you actually are. It must have been hard, being taunted over something that you thought you were, when in reality, those you thought you could trust were lying to you. I know it was hard, being denied what every other Pureblood had. You were denied your blood status; denied the opportunity to stand above the world," she said, allowing her words to trickle into Hermione's brain.

"You were denied the chance to help rid the world of the true vermin that it contains. But it's not too late Hermione. Join us, and we will show you what it means to be a pureblood. You can have anything in the world. Whatever you want, we can take it for you. All we need is for you to say the words. Just say that you'll join us Hermione, and we can give you whatever you desire."

Hermione pretended to think about this. "Hmm, let me see. How about no. I don't want to be a part of your twisted ways. Have you forgotten the pain and torture you put me through, simply because you thought that I was nothing more than a 'filthy mudblood'? Because I haven't. I still remember everything you said to me that day; everything you did. I have personally felt all the tortures of being a muggleborn, and that is not the sort of thing you would wish upon anybody. No one deserved to be treated that way simply because of how old or 'pure' one's magic may be."

Rabastan snarled. "Just kill the lot of them Bella. They are obviously no good. The sooner we kill them, the sooner we get out of here. Besides two out of the three Golden Trio members is rather good. Everyone knows that the Weasley blood traitor is useless anyway. Just kill them and we can send the world into a state of chaos and panic. We can rule the world. Just let me kill them."

Rodolphus obviously couldn't wait any longer. "Sectumsempra," he yelled, pointing his wand at Harry.

Harry was pushed out of the way by Draco, who ended up taking the full blow of the curse. She saw the cuts gouge deep into his body and she felt herself cry out.

"You will not get away with this. This is the last time I let you people hurt me, or anyone I love," she screamed loudly. Harry looked shocked by what had happened. He immediately began muttering counter curses, which she assumed that he heard Snape use on Draco previously, while her and Blaise fought against the three Death Eaters.

"Crucio!"

"Stupefy."

The curses were passed back and forth. Hermione and Blaise battled the Death Eaters, fighting for their lives. Harry had finished with Draco and joined them in fighting off the three, while Draco lay weakly on the ground. Hermione wanted to go up to him and hold him in her arms while she was assured that he would be okay. But she knew that none of them were getting out of there until they finished with the Death Eaters.

"Let's just finish with them. Kill as you wish," Bellatrix yelled out.

Hermione heard the sound of the floo ring out, but she was far too occupied to look around. She could only hope that there was more help here. The sooner others got here the better; it didn't look like the three would hold up much longer against the older wizards.

"Avada Kedvra," she heard Bellatrix yell out, as her wand was pointed towards Hermione.

"Repercutio," she heard an elder voice yell out. Hermione knew that it was probably the last thing she would hear. She heard the voices of those around her shout out, trying to stop the curse from hitting her. But it was far too late. Hermione was going to die here. At least help was here now, and they would have a chance. The voice was Dumbledore's she was sure. If he was here then they were safe. And so she waited for her death.

But it didn't come. The red light deflected off her as if she were some sort of mirror. She watched as the light flew back and hit Bellatrix straight in the chest. She watched, as the witch who tormented her so much, fell back to her death.

At that moment, she felt a large amount of magic leave her body. She knew that the connection had been broken. It was over; there would be no more nightmares.

Rodolphus and Rabastan watched in horror as they saw their companion fall. Dumbledore and the new Aurors in the room took advantage to their state and immediately binded them with magic.

It was all over; she was finally free of Bellatrix. Now all that was left was making sure Draco lived.


	31. The Results of That Night

**Chapter 31**

She ran to Draco, who was lying on the ground still. He was deeply breathing, as if he needed all the oxygen that he could get. Blaise and Harry made their way over to her once the two brother Death Eaters had been taken away into custody.

"Draco," she sobbed out. His body lay in a pool of his blood. While the gashes that marked his body no longer bled, the gashes were still raw and wide open.

He took her hand in his, and Hermione could feel from his grasp, just how weak he was. "H-Hermione, I love you. Don't forget that, no matter what happens," he managed out, gasping for air. Dumbledore had summoned for healers right after he saw the state of his student, but they hadn't arrived yet.

She let out another sob as Blaise placed his arms around her. "He'll be alright Hermione. Tell her Draco, tell her that you're going to get out of this alive," Blaise demanded his best friend. She knew that he was saying it to comfort her, but she also recognised the pain in his voice, begging Draco to reassure him as well. He was just as worried as Hermione

"N-No big d-deal. G-gone through t-t-this bef-fore," he gasped out with a faint smile and Hermione broke down into a whole new round of tears.

The healers arrived and immediately surrounded him.

"Miss, we are going to need you to step away from him. We need to get him to St. Mungos as quickly as possible," one of the healers told Hermione as he slowly removed Hermione hand from his.

She wanted to go with him. No one deserved to be alone on Christmas Eve. It was late in the night, and Hermione had no idea what time it was. For all she knew it could even be Christmas morning. He needed her, and she had to go with him.

But she knew that she couldn't. She would need to talk to the Auror department as a witness of what happened. After all, half the Aurors they sent were dead and the rest were either stunned or in bad condition.

Hermione flooed back to her house first. Blaise and Harry decided that they wanted her out of there before they left themselves, and Hermione was more than happy to oblige.

As soon as she stepped out of the fireplace in her own house, she saw her mum and dad waiting for her eagerly. They had known that their children were going off against the Death Eaters, but knew better than try to stop them. Her mum saw her tear clad face and brought her in immediately into a tight hug.

"Oh mum, I don't know what I'll do if something happens to him," she cried. Her mother just stood there, allowing her daughter to cry out all her worries and tears. She saw Blaise arrive and her father wrapping his arms around him tightly. Blaise knew better than to try and get out of the hug and just hugged their father back.

She pulled away from her mum and saw Pansy and Harry floo through the fireplace together. Pansy looked weak like she was about to faint. She also saw Seamus and Astoria sitting off to a corner, obviously waiting for some sort of explanation as to what exactly happened . It was going to be a long night

* * *

Theo watched as Pansy emerged from the fireplace. She was okay and had survived. He let out the breath that he hadn't known that he was holding. Pansy was okay. Seeing her, he felt a rush of an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time. He no longer cared about hurting Draco or winning Hermione. All he wanted now was Pansy.

* * *

Pansy stepped out of the fireplace, quivering with each step she took. She was supposed to go straight to St. Mungos for a checkup, but she couldn't yet. There was still something she had left to do. She let go of Harry, and suddenly she felt a rush of adrenaline rush through her. She gained some sort of strength, which she was sure was completely temporary. She knew it wouldn't last long, so she wanted to use it up as much as she could.

She knew that most of the people in the room were watching her, but that didn't stop her from running straight to Theo. She ran up to him and jumped into his arms, pulling him into a kiss. She could tell that he was stunned, but she slowly felt him relax. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and he took his hands that were idly hanging, and wrapped them around her waist.

She pulled away and saw that he was looking at her amazed. "You have no idea just how worried I was about you," he breathed.

"I thought I was never going to see you again," she said shakily. "I thought that they were going to kill me for sure Theo, and all I could think was that I was never going to see you."

He stroked a piece of her black straight hair out of her face, and cupped her cheek. "Don't worry, by time I'm done with you, you're going to beg to never see me again," he said softly.

She smiled, and leaned in to kiss him once more.

As the pair reunited, they saw their Headmaster in the corner, watching the pair. He beckoned to them, where they assumed that they would face the appropriate punishment.

* * *

The two students sat nervously in the chairs in the Headmaster's office. Both knew that their actions could be seen as reverting to their old ways, and therefore could result in Azkaban time.

He looked at them sternly, "I hope you know that what you have done had not only put your lives in danger, but messed with a serious Ministry mission," he said.

They hung their heads.

Pansy spoke first, "B-but sir, we couldn't have known what we did would mess up your plans," she said nervously.

He shot them another look, "Which brings me to my next point. By brewing Polyjuice in school, you have broken about a hundred school rules, not to mention tampered with the Head students and various innocents."

Theo just continued to look at the ground, "Are we going to go to Azkaban?" he asked quietly.

To their surprise he replied, "No, I do not think that is necessary."

The two looked up at him in surprise, "While you have broken rules, such a dire consequence seems unlikely. And while it is a bit sceptical, the two of you did help after we learned what you had done. Theo, you told us everything you knew, and Pansy, you keep the important pieces of knowledge silent until the right time."

Dumbledore paused before speaking again, "But I still do have to punish you however. I will assign you each three months of detention, _separately_. In addition to this, you will each lose fifty house points and will not be able to attend any more Hogsmeade trips for the year," he told them sternly.

They understood. The punishment may have seemed harsh, but it was fair. They were lucky that Dumbledore was the person handling their punishments. Had it been anyone else, the pair would have been sentenced to life. They excused themselves from the office, knowing their time was up, and returned to their common room.

* * *

Blaise made his way over to Seamus and Astoria. Her parents had insisted that his sister went straight to bed and he agreed with them. He had seen the energy leave her body after the connection was broken. It was like watching all this blackness flock from her body. He also knew that it left her emotionally drained, as he could feel her weaken.

Of course she had protested. The only thing she wanted to do was go see Draco at the hospital. Both of their parents had put their foot down and demanded that she go straight to bed. Draco was going to be in intensive care where he was kept in a sleep like state for a few hours until he was healed completely, so he wasn't going to be lonely there. Of course she still wanted to go, but in the end her tiredness got the better of her and she went upstairs to sleep.

Still, someone would have to clean up the mess Pansy and Theo had created. He knew that the pair of them were both selfish and would do whatever they needed to reach their desire, but he never once thought they would do this. But it shouldn't have surprised him. They were Slytherins and they were ambitious. They decided to use their stealth to get them what they wanted, even if it put others through pain and misery. Well, at least they were happy together.

"You don't need to explain Blaise, we've been able to piece most of it together," his girlfriend's little sister told him.

"Still, I feel like I should apologise to you two. What they did to you, wasn't fair to either of you. Neither of you deserved to be placed through that. You both just came here, and in the midst of all the chaos they decided to create, you got hurt," he told them sincerely.

Seamus smiled at him. "It was a bit hard, watching her pretend to be the girl I just to care about and come on to me. For a second I thought she was just taunting me by making me feel like I was some sort of game to her. But I knew the real Hermione would never do such a thing," he said softly. "At least Luna managed to forgive me."

Blaise apologised once more and then took Astoria home. Daphne had been waiting for Blaise to return worriedly, and once she saw that he was okay, she threw herself around him and hugged him.

"Oh thank Merlin you're okay," she said. She pulled away and wrapped an arm around her sister. Giving him a peck on the cheek, she told him he would see her later. He kissed Daphne goodbye, and went upstairs to fall into a state of deep slumber.

* * *

Draco sat up in the hospital bed. It was Christmas morning, and once again he would be spending it alone. Usually his mother and father would have a brief tea with him and then go off again to more important business, leaving him to do what he wished.

It was rather lonely. Every young kid going off about the great time they had with their families and all the things they had done together. Meanwhile, Draco was alone, with no one to talk to. The only thing keeping him company was whatever expensive gift he had received that year.

He knew that the Zabinis would probably be spending Christmas together by themselves. It was a tradition for them to all open their presents under the tree and the sip on warm butterbeer as the elves prepared a mini brunch. He knew because Blaise had told him about it a couple of times over the years.

He didn't mind too much, at least he could know that his girlfriend no longer faced any threat from his aunt and uncle. That thought was one of the best gifts he could receive; knowing she would be free of her nightmares. He had gotten her a gift, but had left it back at the house.

The door opened. It was probably just another nurse, so Draco didn't bother looking up. They had come in at an hourly basis since he had been admitted to check upon his vitals.

"Merry Christmas," he heard a familiar feminine voice call out. Looking up, he saw a girl throw her arms around his neck and pull him into a deep kiss.

"Hermione," he breathed out. She pulled away and sat beside him in the bed. "What are you doing here?" he asked the family.

"We told you we were spending Christmas with you, so here we are," Mr. Zabini said. He gave the two of them a disapproving look, but his wife stopped him from saying anything.

"Antonio, it's Christmas. Let them be, remember when we were young?" she asked her husband.

Sighing, he dropped the look and replaced it with a smile.

"You guys came to the hospital just to spend time with me?" he asked, sounding unsure. He knew that it was a lot to ask of them, after all the hospital was definitely not the most cheerful place to spend a day like Christmas.

"Draco, when are you going to understand that you're family?" Blaise clucked disapprovingly. "Of course we wanted to spend time with you. Well at least Hermione did. You should have seen her; as soon as the Healers took you away she was adamant to come straight here. We had to force her to sleep before we came."

He looked at his girlfriend, only to find her smiling sheepishly at him. "I wanted to make sure that you were okay," she said softly. He pulled her into a one armed hug, as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"I'm okay 'Mione," he said as he kissed her forehead.

"The healers said you were lucky Harry knew the spells to heal you. If he didn't, you could have died," she fretted. He saw the way her eyes glazed up worriedly, knowing she was thinking of what could have happened to him.

"It's a good thing that Harry had used that spell on me before isn't it, otherwise he wouldn't now the counter curse," he joked.

"Yeah, you're really lucky to get slashed twice, especially in time for Christmas," his friend said sarcastically. Then his eyes lit up as he remembered something. "Oh presents! We have presents. Can we open them now?" he asked his parents like a little child. He could feel Hermione laugh as the vibrations shook his chest lightly.

They laughed as well and began handing out the presents.

Hermione held up a box that was from Draco and looked at him. He hoped she liked it, as he watched her carefully tear away the wrapping paper. She lifted up the lid to see the diamond necklace that he had purchased for her. Her eyes widened in shock.

"Draco, this is beautiful!" she squealed. She showed her mum and she let out a similar sound. Hermione gave the box to Draco, and he knew that she wanted him to put it on for her. He took it out of the box and placed it around her neck. She touched the pendant and kissed him softly.

As he opened her present to him, he found a first edition copy of a rare mystery novel. It was one that he had wanted to read for ages, but had been extremely controversial, so it hadn't been printed past that edition. He looked up at her in amazement.

"Hermione, where did you get this?" he asked, astounded.

"I have connections," she said with a mysterious smile. He kissed her again and was interrupted by a coughing Blaise.

"Seriously guys. It's early in the morning, and we didn't come here so we could watch you snog. We came here to spend time together as a family.

He smiled at them, happy to be accepted. This family before him was one that accepted him despite the faults he made as a child. They welcomed him with open arms and gave him a place to stay. They didn't mind that he was in love with their daughter, but in fact cherished it. He had never been so loved by anyone in his life, and to have them all here for him on Christmas filled him with a warmth he hadn't felt in a long time.

"Thank you," he told them softly. They understood his meaning, despite his lack of words.

"Draco, I don't know how many times we have to say this, but even if isn't by blood, you are a part of our family. And hopefully soon, it will be officially," Cecelia said, looking at the two on the bed.

He saw Hermione blush, but still smile lightly. She looked like she wanted to retort something, but was cut off by her brother.

"We forgot the food!" Blaise exclaimed, as if it was drastic. Snapping his fingers, the room filled with the brunch the elves had prepared that day.

The room broke into chuckles as everyone grabbed a plate. Some things never changed.

* * *

**A/n: **Just the epilogue left :( I had a lot of fun with this story, and hoped it ended in a good way for you.


	32. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

It was indeed the connection she had that had saved her. But it was not love that was what deflected the curse. It was the reflex every human had, to live. Dumbledore explained to her later on that since she had reworked the spell, she was able to control small parts of Bellatrix, so the fact that she tried to hurt Hermione, did not sit well with the curse.

There were numerous speculations about what truly happened on the Christmas Eve of 1998. All that was known for sure, was that was the day that Bellatrix Lestrange had died. The other two Death Eaters had been taken into Azkaban, and were destined to be given the kiss. They were the last three prominent Death Eaters on the loose. After they had been captured, the rest slowly made their way out of hiding and were given the sentences they deserved.

No one really knew what Pansy Parkinson or Theodore Nott had to do with the event either. The only thing they knew for a fact was that they became an inseparable couple, the type that snogs in hallways and are disgustingly cute. But there had to be some connection. After all, due to the event, both were sentenced to three months' worth of detention at Hogwarts. There had also been talk of expulsion for both parties, but something about them 'helping indirectly', saved them from that fate. Very few knew what that meant, and those that did chose not speak about it.

Draco Malfoy had also been admitted to the Hospital the same day of the attack. He was kept there for a couple of days, and people couldn't help but speculate that he had something to do with the capture. No one truly knew what happened, but everyone came to their own conclusions about the event. Whatever the case, it somehow drew Draco and Hermione Zabini closer together.

Maybe one day Hermione would tell her children the truth about that night. But for now, they were too young and too innocent to see the world as anything but good. So for now it would remain a secret, just as it had for the last nineteen years.

* * *

_The air was warm and humid, as June usually was. The students gathered on the lawn for their final time as students of Hogwarts. There were many emotions flowing through the air as well. Some were crying in hugs with their friends while others were smiling and reminiscing about the memories they had. After they graduated today, they would go off into the Wizarding world and get jobs. Some of them would have families while others would seek great adventures beyond the borders._

_As Dumbledore finished up his speech, he gave the podium to the Head students of 1998 – 1999. Hermione Zabini and Draco Malfoy stood up there together. If there was ever any proof that people could change and overcome their differences, then those two were the perfect example._

"_Hello there," Hermione began with a smile. "As you know, I am Hermione Zabini, and this is Draco Malfoy," she spoke in a professional voice._

"_I think they know that by now Zabini," Draco scoffed, earning a glare from her and laughter from the audience._

_She ignored the interruption and spoke on. "We have gone through many things together. We survived evil professors, piles of homework, and ought together against Voldemort. Together, we have accomplished many things. But as individuals, we have all reached different levels of achievements. While some may seem greater than others, each was still an achievement. And for that, we all deserve to feel proud of ourselves," she said, finishing off her speech._

_Draco rolled his eyes and spoke out, "What I'm going to say is a lot shorter than my partner. I know many of you have disliked me over the years. I haven't always been the best person after all. But this year, we have learned that we all lost things over the war, and it had changed us all. So I'd like to thank you for that. But the person who forgave me the most; forgiving the horrid things I've done over the years, is standing beside me. And I would like to take this moment to ask her something very special," he said mysteriously._

_People sat up on the edges of their chairs. Everyone wanted to get a good view of what was going to happen. _

_Draco stepped to the side and took her hand. He bent down on one knee and there was a collective gasp throughout the audience. He pulled out a small, red velvet box and spoke, "Hermione, I know that we've barely even been together for a year. But in that time, I knew that I was in love with you. Actually, I think I've been in love with you since fourth year. But I also realised that there was no one else that I'd rather spend my life with, so will you marry me?" He asked nervously._

_She looked like she was short for words, "That was definitely longer than my speech," she said finally._

"_Hermione!" he said exasperatedly. _

_She broke out into a grin, "Of course I'll marry you!" she said. She threw herself in his arms after he placed the diamond on her finger. _

_The crowd broke out into a loud applause, as he spun her around. Harry Potter had a wide grin on his face, and according to rumours, Ronald Weasley had been spotted crying slightly._

Hermione thought back to that day with a wide smile on her face. It had been a while since she thought of the day Draco had wanted to be with her forever. Some criticized, saying that they were far too young to decide something that big. But those who knew the couple knew that there was never another couple who were so suited for one another. Her father had been reluctant to accept it, but grudgingly did. He was glad it was Draco she wanted, since he was basically family anyway.

"Scorpious, stop teasing your sister. You know fully well that there is no such thing as the wrong house," Draco scolded their oldest son, who was currently mocking their oldest daughter. "Well maybe Hufflepuff.

"Draco!" Hermione scolded her husband. She was holding Lyra, their youngest child. She was only nine so she wouldn't be able to go to Hogwarts. Like Lily Potter, who had already cried and whined, she was upset she wouldn't get to be with her older siblings for three more years. To a nine year old, three years was a long time to wait. She buried her blonde hair into Hermione's shoulder.

Seeing the distraught in his sister's brown eyes, their second oldest child stepped in, "Don't worry Cassie. I've seen the Hufflepuffs, and trust me, you definitely not one of them," Orion assured his sister. She stopped twirling her blonde curly hair and smiled at Orion.

Scorpius, seeing how afraid his sister was, dropped the teasing and gave her a big hug. "Don't worry Cass, if you're in Slytherin then I'll take care of you, and if you are in Gryffindor like your nerd of a brother, then he'll help you. But either way you won't be alone." He spun her through the air, causing her to squeal with enjoyment.

Out of their four children, Scorpius was the only one who was an exact replica of Draco. He looked like him and acted like him; the changed version of course. Their children knew nothing of the blood prejudices that used to circle the world. Orion, however was basically Hermione. Sorted into Gryffindor, he had her hair, and was just as studious as she was. Orion, to Hermione's dismay, was the only child with her hair. Draco however, was very pleased by this.

"Scorpius, you better watch your behaviour this year or Dumbledore will take away your prefect position. And don't forget to study for the OWLs," she warned. Between the influence of Draco and his uncles Harry and Ron, Scorpius had gotten into more trouble than one could remember. Of course he had decent grades and was close to the top, but it didn't stop Hermione from worrying.

"Yes mum," the fifth year said as he rolled his eyes.

The colour drained from Orion's face, "I need to start studying for my OWLs," the third year fretted. Yup, he was definitely Hermione's child.

"Hermione, what have you done to this poor boy?" she heard a male voice call from behind her. She turned to see Blaise and Daphne walking toward her with their only child, Catharina. She, like her brother had brown hair and his darker complexion, but had her mother's eyes and personality. She was entering her second year this year.

Seeing James Potter up ahead, she ran off.

"I swear, she cares more about that boy than she does us," Blaise complained. Daphne told her once that James was her first crush, and Ginny told her that James cared more about the girl than he would care to admit. Well hopefully it worked out for them.

"I will not have my daughter like a Weasley," Draco said, having a staring contest with Cassiopeia. She blushed furiously as Albus made her way over.

"Stop talking Dad. I do not like Albus, we're just friends," she said hurriedly. "Oh hi Albus!" she squeaked.

Hermione shot her husband a look. He sighed and came over to where she was standing next to her brother. "Hey Blaise," he said.

"It's the same with me mate," Blaise said with a similar sigh. "They just don't listen to us," he told Draco.

"At least Lily isn't into boys yet," Harry commented as he walked over to the group. "I don't think I'd ever let her go."

A couple of kids pointed at Harry as they walked by, immediately breaking into whispers and such.

"Why do they always do that when they see you Dad?" Albus asked. The students who already entered Hogwarts had a general idea, but didn't know the full story. Scorpius, having studied most of this the previous year, had known all about it. He spent the summer interrogating his mum and dad about the events.

Draco hated it, since he had to finally explain to his son the horrible things he had done. But Hermione would often interrupt and tell their son that it had never been by his choice. She told him that his father was a bad man and he had been forced to. And when he finally saw he had nothing left to lose, he joined the side he thought was right. After that, his son thought he was the biggest hero he ever met, including over Harry. Draco had never been so happy his entire life.

They all knew that Harry wasn't one to brag about his life or the things he had done. He lived a modest life, working as an Auror to catch the remaining Death Eaters and keep the streets safe. Draco had in fact become a healer, while Hermione worked to exterminate the prejudices in the world.

"Because son, there was once a very bad man who I stopped," he told his son, in the simplest of terms. The eleven year old seemed to accept this as an answer. They knew that their children would eventually learn about the horrid things of their past, but that wouldn't be for a long time.

"And remember to write each week," Hermione told her three oldest children. "I want to know everything that happens to you guys okay?" she said, tearing up slightly.

They each gave her a hug, Cassie holding on the longest. "Mum, I'll be okay. I have Scorp and 'Rion to look after me," she reassured her mother. Hermione kissed her softly as she let her go.

"We'll write to you Lyra, and we'll send you stuff back from Hogsmeade, don't worry," Scorpius told his little sister.

"And we'll be back for Christmas before you know it, promise," Orion said.

"I'll tell you everything you need to know for when you get there Lyra," Cassie said.

She sniffled as she smiled at them, "O-Okay. Bye-Bye"

Hermione kissed her daughter as they waved to the children who began boarding the train.

Draco wrapped his arm around her waist and brought her into a hug. "Right now the summers never seem long enough do they?" he asked his wife.

She shook her head as she laid her chest into his body.

Subconsciously, her hand found her way to her forearm. The words had long since faded, but Hermione was still remembered the amount of dark magic the place had held. She no longer had nightmares, nor once felt a connection. She was free of the mark forever.

Against everything the friends had faced, the many ups and downs, the fights and disagreements. Against the war and the prejudices, and the life changes, against everything life threw out at them. Against all odds, they had survived, and had not only love, but family as well. Against all odds, they had made it.

* * *

**A/N: **I would like to take this moment to thank you all for taking the time to read this story. Whether you followed or reviewed, each view this story got means a lot to me. I will be writing another story soon, but first I need to plan it out. I have a general conception, but if there's anything you want to happen, let me know and I'll see if I can work it in. You are all lovely, thank you.


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